Background and Objectives
As a state-owned enterprise, TSC shoulders the mission of implementing national policies. Recently, in collaboration with the Executive Yuan's "Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (SSGESC)" project, TSC has embarked on the development of a high-quality residential community within the designated area of the Tainan High-Speed Rail station. With the concept of environmentally friendly development, this community is planned to offer leasing services. The design concept of the community incorporates flexible partitions, transparent piping layouts, and the concept of "Building as Material Bank (BAMB)", all aimed at promoting sustainable practices. Additionally, the community will feature environmental life support systems such as safety control, smart electricity and water networks, and self-sustaining food sources. In the future, it will be integrated with the overall smart facilities and green energy technologies of the SSGESC, making it the first high-quality residential area in Taiwan equipped with a green energy circulation network and a low-carbon transportation network.
Implementation Status
- Location: Wudong, Gueiren District, Tainan City.
- Area: 13,994.07m2.
- The community will offer a total of 351 residential units and 17 commercial units for lease.; all units are for leasing instead of selling.
Modular design concepts are adopted from the main structure to the facade construction. BIM technology is also applied to integrate material and structure information for easy assembly and disassembly. It will serve as the material database for future replacement or reuse purposes.
Urban farm in the Village offers a green lifestyle. With organic kitchen waste as fertilizer, rain water recycling system, and aquaponics, the Village offers more than residential services, it’s a place for residents to interact and experience a sustainable lifestyle.
Future Development Blueprint
- TSC aims to promote the concept of circular economy, ensuring that the lifecycle of buildings, from design to dismantling, moves towards reusability, restoration, repairability, waste reduction, and energy efficiency. We will gradually establish relevant systems and platforms for circular buildings to circular cities, enhancing Taiwan's competitiveness in the construction industry.
- TSC will innovate new business models such as "replacing ownership by access" and "buying the service instead of the product" for building equipment and materials, pursuing sustainable resource utilization to enhance economic benefits. This will subsequently influence the equipment manufacturing industry, leading to changes in industrial design thinking and operational models.
Benefits
- The project was completed and inaugurated in the year 2021, marking Taiwan's first residential building to embody the concept of circular economy.
- The community's circular mechanisms include "recyclable building materials," "rainwater and greywater recycling," "solar energy applications," "kitchen waste recycling," "heat pump systems," and more. Unlike traditional linear economy models, the project adopts a leasing service approach for equipment such as elevators, furniture, home appliances (including air conditioning), bathrooms, kitchen waste facilities, and lighting systems, instead of the conventional one-time purchasing model. This sustainable warranty circular economy business model is expected to create new commercial models domestically. Through a Building Information Modeling (BIM) system, a circular system for 378 categories (20,588 items) of building materials in Block D has been established. The solar energy system generates an average of approximately 660 kWh per day.
- TSC has been gradually constructing circular rental housing in northern, central, and southern Taiwan, stimulating innovation in the construction industry and fostering consensus. This serves as a strong support for the development of circular housing and circular cities, thereby enhancing Taiwan's overall competitiveness in the construction industry.
- The project has received numerous awards.
- Honored with the 2022 Taiwan Residential Architecture Award (TRAA)-First Place for Best Residential Complex
- The 15th (2022) Intelligent Living Space Design Competition-Bronze Award
- Honored with the Distinguished Honor Award of Tainan City's 7th (2020) Green and Beautiful Award- Public Category
- Honored with 2019 FIABCI-Taiwan Real Estate Excellence AwardsPlanning & Design Category
- Nominee, 2018 World Architecture Festival Award (WAF)
Total carbon reduction of the Village, through its complete life cycle of 60 years, is estimated to reach 20,000 metric tons.
Collaborators and Opportunities:
Industry Sector:
- The public space on the 3rd floor of Building D (Demo House) is currently used as a conference room and a showcase space for circular economy. It can be rented to relevant industries for exhibitions or events. For example, on June 26th and August 24th of the year 2023, the Circular Taiwan Foundation invited relevant industries to hold two circular economy forums in the community.
- Green energy and circular-related service providers (e.g. water resource planning, energy providers, recycling companies, etc.) assist in the resource reuse within the circular residential community.
- Agricultural units and local organizations (such as the Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station and Xinhua Ranch of Livestock Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture under Executive Yuan, Xinyongpo Eco-friendly Agricultural Education Park (新勇坡友善農業教育園區), Gueiren District Farmers Association (歸仁區農會), Gueiren Community Development Association (歸仁區社區發展協會)) share and exchange technologies related to urban farming, rooftop gardening, aquaponics, and black soldier fly breeding.
- Environmental groups and associations (such as the Tainan Environment Protection Union and the Gueiren Community Development Association) assist in kitchen waste disposal within the Circular Village.
Government Sector:
- In line with President Tsai's declaration of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 at the 2021 Social Design Action Forum, entitled "Sustainability—The Solutions for Our Earth", and in accordance with government policies promoting circular economy, TSC participated in the "2021 Taiwan Circular Economy Week" series of events organized by the Ministry of Environment. TSC showcased the achievements of various businesses in resource circulation, zero waste, innovative technologies, and business models, as well as promoted the implementation experience of this project in circular construction. (Throughout the entire lifecycle from construction to a 60-year period of building usage, the total carbon reduction is approximately 20,000 metric tons. Additionally, the project has obtained the Low Carbon Building, Gold Class for the Intelligent Building , and Green Building Diamond Class Candidate Certificate.)
- Participation in circular building workshop organized by the Taiwan Construction Research Institute (TCRI) to share our practical implementation experiences. Subsequently, planning to apply for research subsidies from the Construction and Planning Agency to continue developing feasible strategies for energy-saving and carbon reduction topics to architectural design cases.
- Participation in the "Circular Buildings" lecture and forum organized by the Construction and Planning Agency to share the planning and design concepts of incorporating circular economy into architecture and its execution results. Discussions were held on the limitations of existing "regulatory aspects" and "financial assessments" systems, and suggestions were made for future paths towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions and circular economy, creating a win-win situation for both the environment and the economy.
- After the completion of the Circular Village, it has received attention from government officials. President Tsai Ing-wen, Deputy Executive Yuan Ministers Chang Jing-sen and Wu Tsung-tsong, among others, have visited for inspections. On May 25th, 2023, the Control Yuan, led by President Chen Chu, along with members of the Finance and Economic Committee, visited for inspection. On September 12th, Deputy Minister Hua Ching-chun of the Ministry of the Interior, along with representatives from the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center, visited for inspection. Newly appointed National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen visited on July 13, 2024; Taitung County Deputy Magistrate Wang Zhi-hui led a delegation of bureau chiefs on a visit on August 22; in addition, relevant departments from the Kaohsiung City Government, Taoyuan City Government, Chiayi City Government, and Nantou County Government also visited for exchanges.
- The Circular Villiage has gradually expanded its international visibility. In addition to the visit of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, UK, on March 24th, 2023, on October 27th, 2023, the International Cooperation and Development Fund organized a Smart City Workshop, leading 29 foreign delegates from 23 countries to visit. On December 1st, 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs arranged visits and exchanges for diplomats and commercial representatives from diplomatic countries and friendly countries to the Circular Villiage. On April 16th, 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with members of the Israeli Knesset, visited the park. Later that year, on August 9th, foreign service officers returning for briefings also visited the park for exchanges. The hope is to share the park's experience with diplomatic allies in the future.
Academic Sector:
- During the construction period, there have been visits and exchanges organized by relevant engineering departments of universities such as National Chung Cheng University, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chang Jung Christian University, and Shu-Te University to promote circular economy education. Continuous efforts are made to promote educational tour mechanisms, providing cooperation, exchange, or related study opportunities for educational institutions in fields such as design, engineering, environmental protection, and management.
- Since its completion, there have been visits from teachers and students from schools such as National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, National Taipei University of Technology, National United University, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chang Jung Christian University, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kun Shan University of Science and Technology, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung Municipal Chung-Cheng Industrial High School, and National Erh-lin Industrial and Commercial Vocational High School. They have exchanged ideas and practices related to circular economy and circular construction.
- On December 6th, 2023, 100 teachers and students from Renoir Creative School in Taoyuan City visited the Circular Villiage, marking the starting point for the concept of "rooting the concept of circular economy from an early age." On December 13th, 2023, teachers and students from Ishikawa Prefectural Komatsu High School, Japan, visited the Circular Villiage, symbolizing the openness and welcoming attitude towards international academic exchanges. Additionally, Japanese journalist Eriko wrote an article introducing the Circular Villiage on the Ecotopia website ("Sustainable Living, Achieved by Just Moving In—Taiwan's First Circular Residential Complex "Taisugar Circular Village").