Forty-four industrial, academic and government organizations from Taiwan and the Netherlands yesterday signed a joint declaration to demonstrate their commitment to building a circular economy, as they welcomed visitors to Taiwan’s first circular-economy construction at the Houli Forest Expo Site of the Taichung World Flora Exposition, which opened yesterday.
The declaration, titled “Circular, Now!” was inked at the Holland Pavilion, which is 10.3m tall and is the only non-permanent two-story building in the World Garden Competition area. The area contains the works of 31 nations from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Built with the goal of leaving zero waste, the Holland Pavilion was built by bolting steel structures together. Nails were replaced with dowels and the pavilion is equipped with energy-conserving pneumatic vacuum elevators.
Photo: CNA
Its wooden floors, doors and furniture came from old sugar warehouses built by Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar) in Kaohsiung in 1949.
The Netherlands Trade and Investment Office in Taipei said that after the expo ends in April next year, the pavilion will be the first circular building in the world to be dismantled and reconstructed again, at Taisugar’s Yuemei Tourism Sugar Factory.
“The circular economy is all about cooperation and pioneering new circular business models and technologies, and that is exactly what you have demonstrated here,” Dutch Representative to Taiwan Guy Wittich said.
Photo courtesy of the German Institute, Taipei
Wittich said 40 percent of global urban waste comes from demolished buildings, which is why he hopes more stakeholders in Taiwan and the Netherlands can cooperate and engage in exchanges and partnerships on circular construction projects.
Lauding the Holland Pavilion as a perfect testament to successful substantive exchanges between Taiwan and the Netherlands, Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said the circular economy and green energy are among the major focuses of the government’s industrial innovation program.
At the ceremony, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also inked a letter of intent with Almere Mayor Franc Weerwind to participate in Floriade Expo 2022, which is to be held in Almere, the Netherlands.
Photo: CNA
Another highlight of the world garden area is an installation by Germany, titled “Floral Frame of Time,” which features a walkable cube made of 233 bamboo sticks.
It is based on the famous “Red Cube” by Farkas Molnar, a Hungarian architect and proponent of Bauhaus, a renowned German art school established in 1919.
Although Molnar did not translate his design into an actual building at the time, the hope is that his ideas will to come to life almost 100 years after they were designed via the installation, which is adorned with paintings by German artists and 600 fragrant Taiwanese herbs, the installation’s lead artist Stephan Murer said.
Two pre-recorded poems composed by Taiwanese poet Lee Chang-ching (李長青), as well as one by German writer and poet Karsten Steinmetz, are played inside the cube twice an hour.
Across from the German installation is a project called “Branches” by Spanish architect Miquel Batlle, who used large branches from about 50 dead trees found near construction sites to create a cone-shaped wooden vault.
Asked why he chose dead trees instead of living ones for his creation, Batlle said the trees he used were mostly chopped down to make way for construction projects and he wanted to send a message to the public that trees and buildings can coexist peacefully.
Another popular installation in the area is a project by Kazakhstan’s Silk Road Horticulture Association, which built a “Central Asian Garden” consisting of elements from both Eastern and Western civilizations to demonstrate Central Asia’s role as a gateway between Europe and Asia.
The project’s use of gold Roman columns and display of blue-painted statues of mythological figures add an exotic sense of mystery to the garden.
According to the Taichung City Government’s Education Bureau, participants’ works were evaluated once before the expo’s opening and will be judged again during the six-month exhibition period.
The winners are to receive their awards at the expo’s closing ceremony in April, the bureau said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition