Here once stood an enormous concrete building. And before that, this was the terminus of a canal. Try stepping into the water. It's shallow. Stand quietly, and…
Multilingual AI audio guide exhibit on WOUDiO (PWA). WOUDiO pioneered the world’s first audio guide platform with built-in donation: listeners can support the cultural venue without leaving the listening experience. The text below is the localized description, details, and narration script for this audio guide stop.
Here once stood an enormous concrete building. And before that, this was the terminus of a canal.
Try stepping into the water. It's shallow. Stand quietly, and you'll feel a concrete floor beneath your feet. This is not a newly built bottom — it is the floor of the underground parking garage that belonged to the commercial building that once stood here.
In the 1980s, a large commercial complex called Chung Kuo Cheng — "China Town" — was built on this spot. It was constructed atop the buried surface of the canal. The waterfront was filled in, in an attempt to make something grow.
But people drifted away. For a long time, the building stood unused.
In 2020, after its demolition, this plaza was created. The design was carried out by a Dutch architecture firm.
What's fascinating is that they didn't bury it underground again. They left the parking garage's pillars standing, kept its excavated form, and let the water flow back in. The traces of what was torn down are left visible, in plain sight.
Water that was filled in is now, fifty years later, dug back up. What this city has done, from the very beginning, has simply been this cycle repeating itself.
Toward evening, children come wading in. If you're going to take off your shoes, now is the time.
