On the Fenggui Peninsula in Magong, a city belonging to an archipelago of islands in the Taiwan Strait, the sea intertwines with the landscape, according to the organizers of an international architectural competition, who were looking for the best idea for the tourist development of this part of the Pescadores. One such project was created by architects from the Cracow-based Ingarden & Ewý Architekci Sp. z o.o. studio.
Circular Villas
© Ingarden & Ewý
The competition was organized by Ya Qing Ocean Cultural & Creative supported by the Penghu (Pescadores Islands) county government, Taiwan Architecture Magazine, NCKU Department of Architecture and other NGOs. The entries were judged by a jury chaired by Japan Women's University Tokyo professor and rector Satoko Shinohara and composed of: Ching-Chun Hsu, President of HCC Architects and Associates, Ching-Hwa Chang, Architect, Bio-architecture Formosana (BaF), Arthur Huang, Founder of Miniwiz, Shuenn-Ren Liou, Professor, Department of Architecture, Cheng Kung State University, Yu-Tse Tai, Tai Architect & Associates, and Kuo-Yao (Patrick) Su, Resident Board Member of Junyi School of Innovation and CEO of Grand Hotel.
Circular Villas
© Ingarden & Ewý
The organizers of the competition were looking for concepts to support the promotion of the region, which would take into account the local culture and the distinctive environmental values of the site—as the area is located on a small hill surrounded by water on three sides, with forts remembering the time of the Japanese colony, covered with a variety of vegetation.
Circular Villas
© Ingarden & Ewý
What was the competition task? The challenge was to create an ecological tourist park with a complex of recreational houses with architecture embedded in the ideas of a circular economy. The project was to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals such as using renewable energy, promoting a local green economy, creating biodiversity or mitigating the impact of climate change.
Circular Villas
© Ingarden & Ewý
The competition jury selected ten designs for the houses, which will be implemented in different parts of the peninsula, thus creating a mosaic tourist village.
The studio of Krzysztof Ingarden and Jacek Ewý (Ingarden & Ewý) was the only one from Poland to receive the award. The winning design team consisted of: Piotr Urbanowicz, Adrian Kasperski, Sebastian Machaj, Bartosz Kardaś, Marcin Ewý and Michal Przetaczek.
Circular Villas
© Ingarden & Ewý
The architects from the Krakow office proposed a complex of compact, cylindrical buildings overlooking the water surrounding the peninsula. On the facade and interiors of the two-story buildings, the designers used local teak wood, while on the terrace, in turn, basalt stones characteristic of the area. For the later stages, they also don't rule out the use of alternative materials like „coral brick” made from coral waste combined with C-Slurry material created from industrial waste. Each of the roofs is covered with solar panels facing south to maximize the absorption of solar energy.
