Taipei City Cultural Heritage Preservation and Maintenance Honor Award
The preservation and maintenance of cultural heritage is like a sword that takes ten years to sharpen. Whether it’s the careful restoration of each brick and tile, or heartfelt co-creation within the community, these achievements don’t happen overnight—the core driving force comes from the constant dedication of the operators, as well as the formulation and implementation of management and maintenance plans. In 2024, X-Basic Planning, which has long been concerned with cultural heritage preservation issues, was fortunate to put its philosophy into practice when invited by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs to help organize the Third Taipei City Cultural Heritage Preservation and Maintenance Honor Award (hereafter referred to as the Honor Award). Through the planning of this award, we not only expressed affirmation for the many outstanding cultural heritage sites in the Taipei area, but also focused our attention on those who have made significant contributions to preservation, revitalization, and promotion, learning valuable preservation experiences and approaches from them.
After cultural heritage sites are completely restored and reopened to fanfare, it’s the seemingly routine and trivial daily operations are actually the key to extending the life cycle of the buildings. If X-Basic Planning’s assistance to the Cultural Affairs Bureau in executing Historic Sites and Historic Buildings Management and Maintenance Evaluation for two consecutive terms is a macroscopic examination of the current state of domestic cultural heritage preservation, then this Honor Award uses a more delicate, city scale to observe how cultural heritage brings positive changes to neighborhood landscapes and cultural life, and records every intriguing detail. From preliminary selection and on-site inspection to in-depth interviews and an award ceremony, we have witnessed the passion and perseverance of countless cultural heritage guardians, and hope to outline the profound meaning and complete profile of the Honor Award through this article.
The Cultural Heritage Protection Site
This Honor Award is divided into three categories: Preservation and Restoration, Management, Maintenance, and Promotion, and a Special Contribution award. These are awarded to those who have demonstrated excellence in space restoration, planning and design, and construction supervision; exceptional performance in management, maintenance, and operational promotion; and significant contributions to preservation and promotion. After the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s initial screening of participating cases, we invited 11 experts in the field of cultural heritage to serve as evaluation committee members for the secondary review, on-site inspection, and final selection, ultimately selecting the winning and shortlisted units.
During the on-site inspection process, restoration teams, management units, and property owners provided on-site presentations and guided tours, allowing the evaluation committee to gain an in-depth understanding of the current status of the cultural heritage and conduct comprehensive assessments and exchanges. Subsequently, the committee members provided suggestions and scores based on their on-site observations and professional judgment. Through on-site questions and discussions, committee members and restoration teams or management units jointly explored practical issues encountered in cultural heritage preservation and maintenance, and proposed adjustment recommendations, future development visions, and concrete, feasible plans to address these challenges. This series of interactions and exchanges provided the participating teams with the most direct feedback and gains.
Documenting Guardianship Principles
During the implementation of the Honor Award, the X-Basic Planning team used photographs and videos to record every moment, from the secondary field inspection and case interviews to the award ceremony. Alongside, X-Basic Planning produced case achievement videos for this year’s award-winning units through interviews and filming, showcasing the beauty of these outstanding heritage buildings through these videos, while also hoping to record and pass on the precious preservation principles of these cultural heritage guardians.
Before interviewing the award-winning cases, X-Basic Planning always conducted detailed planning and extensive discussions, customizing interview outlines and shooting scripts for each case, and invited professional photography teams to conduct filming at various sites. During the filming process, we observed the dedication and attentiveness of many cultural heritage management units, who not only focused on video production but also remained mindful of the safety and experience of on-site visitors. These most ordinary and authentic interactions and responses, although not presented in the final video results, are precious details that we will never forget.
The X-Basic team also took this opportunity to further understand the challenges and difficulties these award-winning units experienced in the process of cultural heritage preservation. For example, the large-span Liba steel frame inside China Film Studio A was once a hot point. The team brainstormed how to keep the steel frame from deforming while maintaining its original appearance and stability troubled the restoration architects, structural engineers, and construction team for a long time.
Besides restoration challenges, the unexpected encountered at restoration sites. During the restoration process of Taipei No. 1 Girls’ High School (Kuangfu Building), the restoration team originally planned to repaint the wooden wainscoting in the conference room. Later, through a small paint removal test, the construction team discovered that the original color and profile details of the wood panels were completely preserved at the bottom layer. After research and discussion between the architects and the construction team, they ultimately decided to strip all the paint from the wood, applying only a layer of protective varnish to preserve the most original style and details of the wood.
Polishing Past Glory Through Diverse Actions
After the second-round site inspection, final selection meeting, filming and interviews with winning organizations, this year’s Honor Award ceremony was held on November 11, 2024, at the Minglun Hall of Taipei Confucius Temple. The ceremony included an opening performance, award presentations, and video screenings that gave actual recognition to all winners and finalists and established exemplary models for those interested in cultural heritage preservation in the future.
In addition to the award ceremony, we also continued to promote the diversity of cultural heritage preservation and maintenance through multiple lectures and exhibitions. The exhibition opened on the day of the award ceremony, focusing on introducing this year’s Honor Award winners and finalists, with interactive installations and exhibits from various cases. As the Taipei Confucius Temple venue is a tourist attraction, X-Basic Planning also thoughtfully prepared English introductions for visitors to browse. Furthermore, we organized three series of lectures for this year’s Honor Award winners and related teams, with topics including the reuse and management of old houses, the journey of preserving one’s own residence, and experience sharing from historic site restoration companies, allowing the public interested in cultural heritage preservation and restoration, old house revitalization and reuse issues to gain a preliminary understanding of this professional field through these activities.
As the Taipei Cultural Heritage Preservation and Maintenance Honor Award reaches its third edition, X-Basic Planning is honored to serve as the executive team this time, participating in the second-round site inspections, video filming interviews, and award presentation processes alongside many seniors in the field. As mentioned at the beginning, the preservation and maintenance of cultural heritage can be described as a decade-long process of honing a sword. From restoration and reuse to subsequent management and maintenance, each link requires long-term accumulation and joint efforts from all sectors. We hope that through the Heritage Award, more people will recognize the work of heritage preservation activists and the special significance of old buildings in contemporary cities can be preserved.
