Long a curiosity for people driving along the north coast between Tamsui and Keelung, the “UFO” houses as they are known locally — a group of freakish looking, brightly colored, run-down buildings that were once supposed to become a holiday village — made the headlines recently following the Taipei County Government's decision to demolish them.
Demolition work began on Dec. 29.
“We received an order to tear them down and we plan to finish the job within a month. I have no idea what will happen to the site afterwards,” said a site supervisor, who wished to remain anonymous.
PHOTO: JIMMY CHUANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The UFO houses are situated near the 17km marker of the Tamsui-Jinshan Road (Provincial Highway No. 2). These odd, circular, frisbee-shaped houses remind many people of UFOs, hence the name. Prior to being torn down, the site was often used as a location for photographers because of its unusual atmosphere and beautiful coastal setting.
Taipei County Public Works Bureau Director Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) said that construction work on the compound was never finished and the site has been abandoned for nearly 30 years. The government had no authority to order its demolition as it was owned by the Hung Kuo Group. Hung Kuo's financial problems, however, saw the site's ownership fall into the hands of three different banks.
“We eventually made a deal with the group and decided to tear it down. Hung Kuo and the Taipei County Government will work together to rebuild the site, including the beach front, into a scenic attraction and maybe a resort for tourists,” Lee said.
One of the designers behind the UFO houses spoke exclusively to the Taipei Times. Lin, who only gave his family name, said that there were lots of rumors about the site, but most of them were false.
“First of all, the site is definitely not haunted,” Lin said, in reference to oft-heard rumors that many people have seen ghosts near the complex or the high number of unexplained traffic accidents on the nearby road.
There were also rumors that more than 20,000 skeletons were discovered at the site when construction work began and that it was the scene of several murders.
Lin said that construction of the UFOs began in 1978.
“It is traditional in the construction business to pay your respects to any spirits at the site of a new project before you start work. It had nothing to do with the ghost stories,” Lin said.
Lin, now a freelance interior designer, was working as head of the design department at King Interior Design Co, a subcontractor for Hung Kuo, back in 1989.
Lin said that the original idea for the UFOs came from Sanjhih Township (三芝) plastics manufacturer Yu-chou Co. The first construction license was issued in 1978 and the idea for the design came from Matti Suuronen, an architect from Finland (www.arcspace.com/books/tomorrows_house/), but construction stopped in 1980 when Yu-chou went bankrupt.
Lin said that Hung Kuo had just started running Taipei's Hilton Hotel in 1989 and was looking to extend its tourism business. When Tsai Chin-hsien (蔡錦賢), the president of a local beer house in Tamsui called Haichungtien, proposed continuing with the construction of the UFOs, Hung Kuo offered to back it with NT$800 million (US$24 million) and became the manager of the project.
“They planned to make the compound into a large beer house and resort,” Lin said. “When Tsai took over, he decided to hire King Interior Design Co as the subcontractor and that was when I began to be involved in the project.”
Lin said that after taking over the project, he found that each UFO consisted of a reinforced concrete construction covered by fiber reinforced plastic. Earthquakes could damage such a construction and cause leaks and there was no way to fix such problems.
“We just wanted to finish the construction as soon as possible so we did not redesign or reconstruct the remaining half-completed houses,” Lin said.
He said construction was halted at the end of 1989 because Hung Kuo and Haichungtien had different plans for the compound and failed to reach an agreement.
“Haichungtien was a local business, but Hung Kuo wanted to make the site into an international resort. Unfortunately, the two ideas just did not fit together,” Lin said.
In 1995, Hung Kuo used the land to get loans from three banks because of financial problems, and the compound was left in its present state.
But the site will not lay derelict for much longer, it seems.
The Taipei County Government, according to Tourism and Travel Bureau Director Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠), now has clear plans for the reconstruction of the site.
“With help from the Sanjhih Township Administration Office, we are planning to turn the site into a real tourist attraction by constructing hotels, beach facilities and more,” Chin said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
RSS