Alden Fan
Acting President
Nan Shan Life Insurance Corporation, Taipei

Tetsuya Okusa
Director ＆ Executive Vice President
Mitsubishi Jisho Design, Tokyo

Ensuring a Comfortable Pedestrian Experience in the Heart of the City

Taipei Nanshan Plaza, located in Xinyi district, one of the major commercial and financial centers in Taipei, consists of an office tower, commercial podium, and “cultural entrance” podium. Nanshan Plaza was designed around the concept of a “three-dimensional city,” where the adjacent public park and existing urban axis are utilized to draw urban vibrancy high up into the building. Various spatial attractors are placed throughout the building to enhance vertical and horizontal movement of people. The cultural entrance podium and the office entrance hall on the second floor are designed as three-dimensional public space, and are open to the public 24/7. The commercial podium also provides 24/7 public terraces, with outdoor green space on different floors, that is visually connected to an adjacent public park. These new public spaces are connected to an existing pedestrian bridge, allowing easy access from the ground and prompting people’s movement toward upper floors. Additionally, the office tower is the first in the city to provide a tower-top-terrace, which became an effective way to express active nightlife culture toward the city.

The ground-floor setback, inspired by a traditional chilo shopfront in Taiwan, blocks direct sunlight, strong wind, and sudden rain for a comfortable pedestrian experience. With the aim to create a vibrant environment within and around the property, the design incorporates various ecological strategies. Varieties of tree and plant species were selected for vegetation on both the ground level and upper terrace levels to enhance biodiversity. The biotope maintains the natural habitat for birds and insects, and the lawn park with water retention equipment also contributes to local sustainability.

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