British architecture critic lists ‘The Spring’ in Tainan among best projects of 2020

By Shelly Yang, The China Post, Taiwan |
"The Spring," opened in March this year in Tainan. (Courtesy of Tainan City Government)

TAIPEI (The China Post) — Following praises from Forbes magazine, “The Spring,” which opened in March this year in southern Taiwan, was recently selected by British architecture critic Rowan Moore as one of the top five best projects in the world in 2020.

The park was featured in an article written by the critic in The Guardian on Sunday.  

The park was featured in an article written by the architecture critic in The Guardian. (Screenshot from The Guardian website)

According to the article, Rowan Moore’s five best architectures in the world for 2020 — Town House, Kingston University, Z33, Hasselt, Belgium, Tainan Spring, Taiwan, Mountain View, Sydenham and Zoe Zenghelis, London.

“The Spring,” opened in March this year in Tainan. (Courtesy of Tainan City Government)  

Rowan Moore is an architecture critic of the Observer and was named Critic of the Year at the UK press awards 2014. He is the author of “Slow Burn City” and “Why We Build.”  

To introduce the new park in southern Taiwan, Rowan Moore wrote that “The ruins of a shopping mall made into a water garden that changes with the seasons — more water when it’s rainy, vapor mists when it’s hot.”  

The night scene of “The Spring.” (Courtesy of Tainan City Government)

Designed by MVRDV, a Dutch architecture company, and a Taiwanese design company under Tainan’s urban renewal plan, the park is located within the city center at the former location of the Tainan Chinatown. 

“The Spring” river park covers 1.54 hectares. It is the biggest river park in Tainan city, offering a water playground for kids among some remains of the former Chinatown, which was built in 1981. 

It is the biggest river park in Tainan city, offering a water playground for kids among some remains of the former Chinatown, which was built in 1981. (Courtesy of Tainan City Government)