Taipei City Mayor Wen-je Ko visits newly-built Universiade venue Taipei- Heping Basketball Gymnasium

TAIPEI CITY – Construction of one of the new venues built for Taipei 2017 Universiade, Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium, has been completed. At 10am on 8 June.  Taipei Mayor Wen-Je Ko paid a special observation visit to the Gymnasium and invited the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Education Sports Administration, Zhe-Hong Lin and other guests from the world of sport to accompany him. 

The Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium has a floor area of over 35,000 square metres and has seats for more than 7,000 spectators. It is an expertly-planned, state of the art facility that fully meets the requirements of FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and FISU for Universiade basketball venues. It will be the perfect stage on which talented players from around the world can show their ability to play the game.

Mayor Ko specifically mentioned that after the Universiade venue, the facility will continue to be used as avenue for international and domestic basketball competitions. Its design also makes it suitable as a venue for other sports such as volleyball, table tennis, tennis, handball, gymnastics and fencing, making it impressively multi-function in character.

The Gymnasium is located on Section 3, Xinhai Road, Da-An District, Taipei City, next to Da-An Sports Center on the northwest side of the intersection with Keelung Road. It is a standard basketball gymnasium that fully meets international competition requirements. It has many distinctive features such as a multi-function main venue and a 150 meter PU warm up track; it has barrier-free seating for the elderly and disabled; it has a media broadcast area and SNG van parking spaces. It is also an energy saving building. The site also has a rainwater piggy bank (tank) that has a water storing function; as well as preventing overflow at times of heavy rain, its water can also be used for various purposes. Due to its good performance in terms of eight indicators including water retention, energy saving, carbon emission-reducing, and greening, the Gymnasium was awarded a Gold Grade Green Building Candidate Certificate. In addition, for the various processes in place, system integration and safety and disaster prevention, it was awarded the Standard Grade Smart Building Candidate Certificate.  

 The basketball gymnasium is located on Taipei Municipal Heping Elementary School campus. The building merges with the existing campus landscape. Material use, spatial design, flow line and the garden landscaping were all planned together. The gymnasium will operate on an OT basis in the future. When it is not being used as the venue for competitions, it will be the ideal space in which children can learn and play. 

The site of Taipei Municipal Heping Elementary School was once Xianeipu Military Dependents’ Village. Buildings with historical value remain from the old village, such as the archway that stood at the entrance to the village; it is now on the path at the southeast entrance of the basketball gymnasium and forms a space for historical memory beside the modern sport venue; the sinks have been placed in the outdoor exhibition area where pupils engage in experiential activities; the various precious trees on the site have either been left where they stand or moved to another location on campus or transplanted to a suitable place outside the campus. While constructing the new building, a conscious effort was clearly made to preserve the precious historical assets on the site, setting a fine example. 

(Source: OC Taipei 2017 SU)