Location: Gukeng, Taiwan
Type : Urban Planning and Architectural Design
Studio: Community Studio, Chinese University Hong Kong
Year : 2024
Type : Urban Planning and Architectural Design
Studio: Community Studio, Chinese University Hong Kong
Year : 2024
COFFEE CANAL CENTER
Reconnecting Landscape, Heritage, and Community
In the mountains of Yunlin, the town of Gukeng is home to over 30 000 people and shaped by its agricultural roots. Locals grow oranges, bamboo shoots, camellia oil, and coffee. The whole region suffers from common issue the rural-to-urban outmigration. The biggest challenge for future development of Gukneg is decaying community. There is a generation gap as well as lack of perspectives for young people, which mostly decide to move to bigger cities.
The concept is focusing on rewriting the Gukeng story, using the history, cultural context as well as natural landscape.Coffee is one of its strengths, yet its potential remains underused. Demand for local coffee is high, but production falls short. Studies show that experimenting with less common varieties—suitable for the region’s soil, climate, and elevation—could expand cultivation and strengthen the town’s future.
The urban planning proposal focuses on restoring the old canal—an infrastructure from the Japanese colonial period that has been long neglected.
The design introduces a second axis along the canal, creating a new central spine for Gukeng that reconnects the town with its eastern edge. At the crossing of the two axes, a public forum is formed—an open-air space where the community can come together. The surrounding natural landscape, shaped by subtle angles, remains largely untouched. Its patterns are echoed in the new design, helping to blur the line between the urban and rural parts of Gukeng.
The architectural intervention follows a long-term strategy, supporting future programmes for the town’s development. Coffee plays a central role—not only as a product but as a tool for education and community building. The programm offers multifunctional spaces and rooms . The ground floor serves people of Gukeng, this set of spaces is entirely public, next to the main core building the second axis open the access to water body and 3 units that create the whole, the conference, research centre as well as greenhouse for growing and testing new coffee varieties.
Through the architectural strategic intervention Gukeng can be in the future rural urban fringe balancing the development of small town, a backward for Douliu, where community living is an attraction, close to nature, offering paradigm of how rural town became a beautiful home for locals as well as good working market with coffee in background.
The concept is focusing on rewriting the Gukeng story, using the history, cultural context as well as natural landscape.Coffee is one of its strengths, yet its potential remains underused. Demand for local coffee is high, but production falls short. Studies show that experimenting with less common varieties—suitable for the region’s soil, climate, and elevation—could expand cultivation and strengthen the town’s future.
The urban planning proposal focuses on restoring the old canal—an infrastructure from the Japanese colonial period that has been long neglected.
The design introduces a second axis along the canal, creating a new central spine for Gukeng that reconnects the town with its eastern edge. At the crossing of the two axes, a public forum is formed—an open-air space where the community can come together. The surrounding natural landscape, shaped by subtle angles, remains largely untouched. Its patterns are echoed in the new design, helping to blur the line between the urban and rural parts of Gukeng.
The architectural intervention follows a long-term strategy, supporting future programmes for the town’s development. Coffee plays a central role—not only as a product but as a tool for education and community building. The programm offers multifunctional spaces and rooms . The ground floor serves people of Gukeng, this set of spaces is entirely public, next to the main core building the second axis open the access to water body and 3 units that create the whole, the conference, research centre as well as greenhouse for growing and testing new coffee varieties.
Through the architectural strategic intervention Gukeng can be in the future rural urban fringe balancing the development of small town, a backward for Douliu, where community living is an attraction, close to nature, offering paradigm of how rural town became a beautiful home for locals as well as good working market with coffee in background.