Text description provided by the architects. In 2018, a contest was called to create a hiking route between Mudan and Sandiaoling that included 2 historic railway tunnels and a connection, to be invented, to replace the bridge over the Keelung River washed away by floods.
We took a clear option: to preserve the post-industrial landscape with all its historical and ecological depth. The passage of time has produced, along this route, structural, ecological, atmospheric, acoustic, chromatic, and luminous changes, which are the heart of our proposal.
However, strong interventions were necessary to open the route to the public. The challenge was to hide the efforts of the project and the work to let the old infrastructure and the landscape speak for themselves.
The first choice was the material. Iron constructs a new “railway.” The 16mm diameter corrugated steel bars make up all the visible material.
The gaps left between the bars reveal the powerful action of nature, revealing the rocks and silt in the tunnels, and the lush vegetation in the gorge.
By gradually stretching and folding, they draw all the elements of furniture: railings, benches, bike racks, kilometer points…
An adapted construction system. To adapt to the complex configuration of the site, the project takes advantage of the specific conditions of construction in Taiwan. The country’s SMEs, on the border between industry and craftsmanship, are able to efficiently manufacture mass production, or perform “haute couture” work on site.
Contrasting atmospheres. In the tunnels, we explore the depth of the ground and its cavernous darkness. Artificial lighting bathes the vault and the floor. It guides the steps of visitors and reveals, under the steel mesh, the variations of the original surface: ballast, rocks, silt, meandering water… The light reaches gently to the top of the tunnel arch, where bats hang.
After the first tunnel, we arrive at the foot of a vertical well flooded with natural light. Sun rays filter through the foliage of trees suspended from the rock and, in contact with the vapors exhaled from the tunnel, produce an unreal atmosphere of a fairy tale.
The second tunnel opens into the void of the cliff. Under the vault, a water mirror reflects the opposite shore in memory of the disappeared bridge. From the inside, the silhouette of the visitor is suspended between their reflection and the vegetation.
Sliding, on one side, the footbridge continues the route, like a long sinuous balcony, cantilevered over the gorge. We now discover, in full light, the succession of distant and uncertain reliefs. Here, on the canopy of lush vegetation, we walk among the tallest trees that emerge beneath our feet.
