Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-Ke has made children’s dreams come to life by implementing the Featured Park Construction Project in Hsinchu County. The parks completed this year – namely, Xinglong Park (Public Park #24) in Zhubei City and Water Mist Park (Public Park #4) in Qionglin Township – have been well-received and loved by children and parents alike. These parks have even won gold and silver awards in the 2022 Muse Design Awards, in the category of park landscape design. These awards are helping the world to see how Hsinchu County’s construction is progressing, and how Hsinchu County is moving to become a happier, more livable city.
Yang said that, with an aim to fulfil children’s right to play, he promoted the Featured Park Construction Project and adopted citizens’ opinions for the designs. Completed in the first round of construction, Xinglong Park and Water Mist Park were recognized with international awards. The awards are not only a great encouragement and motivation to the Hsinchu County government and the design and construction teams, but also a testament to how Hsinchu County’s public construction design aesthetics have leapt onto the international stage, bringing Hsinchu County global visibility.
Officials in Hsinchu County Government’s Economic Development Department stated, the impressive landscape design of the Xinglong Park (Public Park #24) in Zhubei City, which won the gold award, is a result of clever utilization of the park’s existing detention basin and environmental & landscape site conditions. Its overall spatial design takes into account the needs of people with mobility impairments, and integrates challenging playground equipment with rich, diverse greenspace landscapes in all four seasons.
The pedestrian traffic flow design of Xinglong Park connects up the different playground equipment in the park; the design of the biking lanes that surround the site employ elevation changes that enable children to experience the high sense of adventure and speed on inline skates, bicycles, skateboards, and more etc. The center of the park retains large grass lawns, with the intention to maintain water-collection functions and to provide a space for people to do leisure activities. The design also appropriately incorporates the proximity of the park with neighboring buildings and the shade they cast in the afternoon, to make the park space visually open, shady and cool.
Water Mist Park (Public Park #4) in Qionglin Township, which won the silver award, concentrates on the characteristics and cultural resources of Qionglin and cleverly integrates the suburban hill terrain into the long, narrow park landscape. Water mist facilities are installed to create a dreamy atmosphere, while lowering the temperature within the park. Different play spaces are also designed for different ages, so that younger children can enjoy themselves in the sandpit and give full play to their imagination, while older children increase muscle endurance and climb on the climbing equipment.
In addition, taking into consideration the needs of the elderly community, Water Mist Park is equipped with fitness equipment near the river bank. The sidewalk design considers path planning and overall visual presentation; some areas use gravel pavement, while others use seamless rubber pavement, making it easy for the elderly to enjoy the beautiful scenery by the river while doing exercise. Water Mist Park creates a treat to for mind and body.
The MUSE Design Awards is organized by International Awards Associates (IAA), a long-established international award association with a mission to uncover design ideas from around the world. Its rigorous scoring criteria each year motivates international brands and designers to compete enthusiastically. The 2022 MUSE Design Awards received over 6,000 entries worldwide, which were reviewed and selected by 110 specialized judges. This makes them one of the most influential international awards in the design industry. The jury examined the entries in five major categories: Creativity; content; innovation and technology utilization; functionality and sustainability; and overall environmental impression.