Hong Kong built row after row of these, that took all soul out of them. Too much efficiency backfires sometimes. Need room for green space, winds and views.
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Fully agree!
One of the most obnoxious high rises in Taipei Cityās Gongguan district is located near the Sukiya on Roosevelt Road. Not only does it boast the usual idiotic 18th century āFranceā palace details, it actually juts out farther on the upper stories, ensuring more light will be blocked for their neighbours. Honestly I donāt know how sh&t designs like this get approved.
By contrast, the complex visualized above (I have not seen it in person) in Xinyi looks far more sensible.
Guy
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Youād think they would actually want to differentiate themselves from the tackiest demographic in the entire world, the Chinese nouveau riche, but apparently not. The gawdy marble and wrought iron is another one Iāve seen.
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Agree with this, lots of new high rise homes but also nice to have a old town, that many Euro cities keep. Kao City has done some old area renovations, like this
https://www.google.com/maps/place/ę°ęæ±Ā·é§
å/@22.6223518,120.2746318,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipONKOcx5ZwmeP3XG-wAfOoy9sK4PX-P14HmgOoy!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipONKOcx5ZwmeP3XG-wAfOoy9sK4PX-P14HmgOoy%3Dw128-h86-k-no!7i4000!8i2667!4m7!3m6!1s0x346e05e73a6e4bcd:0xe1b39abe3bfa486a!8m2!3d22.6221422!4d120.2745213!10e5!16s%2Fg%2F11j8760f7y
Many others in Sizihwan area, kept has some heritage homes and less high rise homes (there are some though)
nearby, inside
outside view, heritage renovation
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If my memory serves me right, HK walk ups are scrappy but they arent straight up depressing like a lot of Taiwan is
Kind of hope Fengshan can get a little bit of that Aozhidi touch. the pier 2 touch would be cool as well.
I generally really like where koahsoung has gone (and is going) considering what it used to be. Price rises inevitably, but not having your face burn in the rain or near rivers is a pretty decent upgrade 
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Yeah, thatās why I love living in Hamasen! (There are some in Sizihwan, but they are mostly in Hamasen.)
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If you can find a HK gongyu anymore that is.
There is some variartion of gongyu in Taiwan , generally speaking the old gongyu in Taipei area and the newer narrow townhouse single house gongyu (or modernised versions of such). I know they are called Tou Tian but you get the picture.
I prefer the old gongyu one apartment per floor because the layout is better. The wife doesnt like gongyu cos you habe to throw out your own trash.
If the local governments could promote beautification more that would be awesome.
Is Hamasen the district that still has shipworks contractors dotted about, giant chains on sidewalk etc. Or is that siziwan?
Personally I think thatās really cool, they will disappear soon I guess.
Yup that sounds like Hamasen. I havenāt seen giant chains on the sidewalks yet, except the ones put up along the water to prevent pedestrians from falling in, but my neighbor weaves fishing nets and lays them out on the sidewalk.
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Yup thatās the place. Enjoy it for what it is now, still a district connected with its history and the environment and not been airbnbed to death, yet.
I give it another 5 years and it will likely been changed forever. I means itās already changed for the better, but too much of a good thing andā¦
Funny, I actually live in an AirBnB building (newly built from the ground up, with no resemblance to the surrounding buildings). There are other AirBnBs in the neighborhood, but they are renovated old buildings.
But yeah, I agree, I hope no others pop up except for mine, haha.
I know itās inevitable. There will be more and more hotels and airbnbs. Houses will be knocked down. Gelato shops and Starbucks will be next. Only thing that will hold it back is China.
I donāt think many families will live there . Families have obviously moved out to the āsuburbsā.
As for my home city, a private investor fund bought 160 second hand houses in half a year to rent out!! Bastardos.
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Yeah imo i think the world is mostly okay without too much brutalist architecture hanging around. There are the interesting examples (i.e. Alexandria and Ainsworth estates in England) and then thereās the horrid, depressing concrete (brutalism referring to Beton brut, ofc something that awful must be french) monstrosities that are really a drain on the soul. The shorter part is somewhat interesting, but thatās not enough to redeem it as āsomething people should be forced to live inā
I think my personal favorite testament to brutalist depression is the Boston City Hall. Holy fuck is it awful. If you donāt already have a deep distrust and hatred of government, thatāll give it to you. Like whyā¦? Itās Boston, itās known for its old architecture and revolutionary era aesthetic, and they decide to slap down a movement to contemporary post war architectural awfulness. A truly soul-crushing CITY HALL which makes you feel small and insignificant, disliked by and deserving of no interest from the very government of the people it is meant to represent.
(Maybe itās to represent the disappointment everyone, I suppose, must experience with clam chowder? Who knows.)
And just imagine having to go to the buffalo city court building. Youāre to be tried for a crime and thatās what you see? Iād swallow the cyanide pill then and there.
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The buildings are nice enough but God please just expand existing parks instead of making a bunch of huge block sized housing complexes samt park and pool which give me a totally uninteresting and longer commute. Just my 2c though.
Although the good thing about Hamasen is the building height restriction, so nobody can build anything higher than the current homes.
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Hereās hoping Taiwan sees the malady facing Europe and can take some decisive action to prevent that from happening in advance. I doubt it but i can hope. That said if Europeās having a hard time dealing with that, I have doubts that Taiwan can.
In general though the housing costs here are batshit insane, something i really didnāt grasp until seeing it firsthand. I ended up visiting a newish apt complex with some coworkers, one couple who had already bought and their friend. Couple bought for entirely insane 13 million (literally could buy a suburban us house) and now like 3-4 years later itās climbed that many and more millions higher. The cheapest room ā smaller and with worse view than the one couple is in ā was 17.8 million. Just donāt get it. How can it get this bad 
I have a strong suspicion that I know which building youāre talking about ā there arenāt very many brand new builds (or at least buildings with all-new shiny elevations/fascias) in Hamasen! And, ironically, if my assumption is correct, Iām pretty sure the Airbnb host there is currently offering heavy discounts on standard normal long-stay rates that are 4ā5x in excess of local rates ;).
I do hope Taiwan learns from the hard lessons that many Western cities have had with Airbnb over the last decade. I feel like most consumers there are finally coming back around to hotels as a ācheapā, hassle-free option thatās actually focussed on the customer experience!
You might be thinking of the right building. Except I think the so-called ānormalā long-stay monthly rate you mentioned is non-existent. That is just the normal daily rate x 30.
I pay the real standard long-stay monthly rate. Been here tor two years and I love it.
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It does look like a salubrious spot, if itās the correct place!
And, yep, youāre right: most long-stays come heavily discounted as standard ā out of season anyway. I suppose itās a question as to whether and when the visitor season will ever fully arrive in this corner of Kaohsiung .
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