Housing Renovation Evaluation in Perspective Landscape Conservation Zone for Preservation of Historical Neighborhoods and Landscapes: A Case Study of Qishan Old Street in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Abstract

The preservation and remodeling of buildings have been contradictory issues all the time in Taiwan, and preservation oftentimes means a smaller floor-area ratio and less economic benefit. Thus, house owners are generally against building preservation policies. In order to eliminate the opposition of house owners whose buildings have higher floor-area ratios and cannot make use of them for preservation, we look into the possibilities of developing the houses of different historical significance in the“perspective landscape conservation zone” for a maximal volume of each building. We aim to enable each building to make full use of its floor-area ratio and, at the same time, to maintain the streetscape. Several types of remodeling for single or semi-detached structures are recommended by taking into consideration the needs of daily life in modern times as well as the appearances of the old street. Based on the abovementioned remodeling approach, the findings of the current study are as follows: (1) it helps to keep the minimal preservation of facades and arcades, (2) it appears to maintain the maximal preservation of facades, arcades, and atrium of the first layer of compounds, (3) the depth of the building sites must not be shorter than 16.5 m to make full use of the 240% floor-area ratio, (4) 62 out of the 95 simulated cases of the study are able to make full use of the floor-area ratio, and (5) the building sites with larger depth ratios (two layers of compounds with an atrium in between) are able to have physical preservation as well as the lifestyle and images of the sites. As the floor area is not used up, it is recommended to transfer the development rights to the remaining floor area or to another place for avoiding the loss of the original housing economic benefits. At last, a timely, flexible, and diverse option for volume controlling is set up so the street is preserved in time through appropriate approaches. Hopefully, the partial preservation and remodeling approach allows the preservation of the historical environment in practice without sacrificing the floor areas that the house owners would like to preserve in general.