Client: City of Taichung, Taiwan
Location: Taiwan, Taiwan
Completion date: 2016
Artwork budget: $400,000
Project Team
Artist
Ed Carpenter
Other
Didier Huang
Managing Partners: DEOA, Taipei, Taiwan
Industry Resource
Glass Fabrication: SMS Glass Co., LTD, Taichung, Taiwan
Other
Renderings and Schematic Drawings: Curtis Pittman
Ed Carpenter Studio
Other
Project Administration: Arleen Daugherty
Ed Carpenter Studio
Industry Resource
Engineering: KPFF, Portland OR
Industry Resource
Engineering: Join Good, Taipei, Taiwan
Client
City of Taichung, Taiwan
City of Taichung, Taiwan
Overview
Taichung New City Park, Taichung, Taiwan, 2016 /
“Crocus” / 72′ high x 20′ wide /
Stainless steel and laminated glass /
“Crocus” is a dramatic focal point for the City of Taichung, Taiwan. Rising 41′ above the intersection of two parks on the central axis of Taichung's new City Center, “Crocus” is visible from the City Hall, the Opera House, and the many residential towers surrounding the site.
Goals
The New Taichung City Park forms an intersection between two parks that are framed by two important civic buildings, the City Hall and the City Council. The park design included a circular opening at the cross axis and a spiral ramp coming from the parking garage below. The City conceived an international competition for a major sculpture at this location, an icon for Taichung, poised on the platform above the spiral.
Carpenter's winning design reinterpreted the brief by encompassing the center column rather than surmounting it. The sculpture starts two stories below ground and rises 45' above the park level, making it prominent throughout the Civic Center.
Process
This project involved a long distance partnership with DEOA, an art consultancy in Taipei. Carpenter was first invited to participate in the design competition in August of 2014, and the commission was awarded in October of 2014. He visited Taiwan three times during the course of the project for planning as well as overseeing fabrication by several sub-contracted trades.