This summer, the X-Basic Planning team received an invitation from Mr. Lin Cheng-Yi of Lin Office to visit Kaohsiung and participate in the preparation workshop for the first ‘Symbiosis Festival’ with partners from the Hongdao Senior Welfare Foundation in Qianjin District. The Symbiosis Festival aims to advocate the concept of ‘community symbiosis,’ with special focus on Kaohsiung’s first social housing project ‘Datong Social Housing’ and the ‘Lintou Living Room’ operated by Hongdao partners, connecting with the historically significant ‘Shengwang Lane’ corridor to showcase the achievements of the ‘symbiotic community’ implemented in this area.

The X-Basic Planning curation team translated the workshop’s discourse and opinions, integrating the principles of ‘mutual assistance, reciprocity, and interdependence’ that characterize ‘symbiosis’ with the concept of ‘holding hands, bonds, and collaboration.’ Using the character ‘互’ (mutual) as the foundation combined with the imagery of ‘big hands holding small hands,’ they designed the main visual logo for this event.

After Mr. Lin Cheng-Yi helped us in conducting field research in the surrounding community and organizing multiple trilateral discussion workshops, all participants in the discussion agreed that the inaugural ‘Symbiosis Festival’ should be presented in the form of a ‘street exhibition.’ The X-Basic Planning team conducted multiple site surveys of the local community, arranging the exhibition locations and routes for the ‘Symbiosis Festival’ from the perspective of professional space planners. Through an integrated mechanism design and the map included in the ‘Symbiosis Passport,’ they connected various exhibition areas scattered throughout Qianjin Lintou Village, such as Datong Social Housing, Hongdao Lintou Living Room, the local old settlement of Shengwang Lane, and Qianjin Kindergarten.

X-Basic Planning specializes in historical research and restoration of old houses, while also revitalizing old buildings and neighborhood environments through exhibition curation and interpretation. During the preparation period for the ‘Symbiosis Festival,’ the curation team conducted multiple surveys of ‘Shengwang Lane,’ hoping to preserve and present the characteristics and lived experience of the old settlement in the exhibition. While respecting the original community context, they introduced fresh elements through ‘micro-transformation of the neighborhood,’ infusing new vitality into residents’ daily lives and bringing new imagery to their lifestyle. Visitors to the exhibition were enabled to understand the old settlement of Shengwang Lane while also experiencing the local vitality and the future possibilities of the old settlement.