Unearthing the Hidden Histories of Khut-Kang
Nestled in the heart of the Architectural Association’s graduating class of 2024, Mabel Wu is making waves by combining her passion for storytelling with the practical skills of architectural design. Having sharpened her creative talents at Kris Yao Artech in Taipei and gained insights from a year in construction management, Mabel has a remarkable ability to translate urban complexities into immersive architectural narratives. Now based in London, she continues her exploration of the built environment while freelancing as an illustrator and volunteering in community engagement initiatives.
Her Fifth Year design project, focusing on a centuries-old market called Khut-Kang, is a testament to her nuanced understanding of community histories. Mabel’s project offers insights into how architecture may act as a living document of collective memory, weaving together the past, present, and unfolding future of a forgotten urban pocket in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
A Crossroads of Unique Experience
Khut-Kang is not an immediately recognizable name to most. Yet, to those who live and work there, it is a place thick with rich texture, layered narratives, and lingering echoes of its once-thriving trade. Occupying a former canal branch that feeds into Kaohsiung’s harbor, Khut-Kang flourished during the 1960s off the trade of illicit foreign goods—an enterprise that gave the market financial momentum yet placed it in a gray area of legality. Today, the official archives speak little of this clandestine trading era. Mabel’s project aims to bring forward these stories by collecting, curating, and celebrating them through a new architectural intervention that frames the market as a dynamic, interactive archive of local heritage.
Shifting from its heyday, Khut-Kang began declining in the 1990s. As infrastructure changed and the import of foreign goods became more regulated and transparent, the hustle and bustle subdued. Nevertheless, the original local community still resides in and around the market, clinging to its fading legacy. Mabel’s design is rooted in the conviction that these residents hold crucial pieces of the city’s cultural puzzle—stories waiting to be heard, mapped, and immortalized in built form.
From Illegal Trading Hub to Living Archive
Architecture, in Mabel’s view, should be more than a series of walls and roofs; it should serve as a living archive that evolves with the people, memory, and culture around it. Her approach in Khut-Kang reimagines the market as a place where tangible artifacts and intangible reminiscences intertwine. Rather than wiping the slate clean and replacing it with contemporary aesthetics, Mabel suggests using the existing structures, alleyways, and leftover spaces as vital clues to the market’s past. Each wall, beam, and piece of corrugated metal is a remnant of bygone trade and sociability.
The presence of Kaohsiung’s harbor provides an additional layer of significance. Through careful curation of historical images, personal testimonies, and built installations, her proposal positions Khut-Kang not just as a collection of stalls and shops but as a holistic narrative of port city life. Tourists, historians, and local residents alike would find themselves privy to an immersive architectural story—a walk-through tapestry of the city’s hidden chapters rediscovered in plain sight.
Preserving Pasts, Shaping Futures
One of the most striking aspects of Mabel’s proposal is the introduction of new archival spaces within the market. The goal is to integrate spaces where local stories can be recorded, exhibited, and interpreted—transforming side passages into micro-galleries, leftover stalls into narrative alcoves, and open courtyards into communal storytelling arenas. These would be flexible, transitional environments that respond to the community’s changing needs. Over time, the archives could evolve and expand as more layers of Kaohsiung’s maritime heritage and personal anecdotes come to light.
Through diagrams, material samples, and conceptual models, Mabel envisions a place that does more than passively preserve the past. It becomes an active participant in cultural rejuvenation, forging links between the local population and visitors who come searching for history. By maintaining remnants of older structures and adding new elements designed specifically for archiving and showcasing historical materials, Mabel’s approach emphasizes continuity and accessibility. Through a combination of spatial strategy and narrative design, she cultivates a sense of ownership among community members and invites them to become curators of their own history.
A Vision for Collective Memory
Khut-Kang’s transformation in Mabel’s project also addresses how architecture can adapt physical and intangible resources. Fusing modern systems for temperature control, archive preservation, and interactive displays with the site’s existing frameworks, the project is a bold proposition for community-driven regeneration. At its heart is the relationship between two archives: the lived, breathing archive that Khut-Kang’s residents represent and the formal, visual archive of the harbor’s history. By intertwining these parallel documentations, visitors and locals gain fresh perspectives on both the authenticity of daily life in an old trading hub and the romanticized vista of Kaohsiung’s port city.
This dual-archive concept resonates beyond Taiwan. It is a model for how cities worldwide might highlight ordinary peoples’ stories—especially those absent from official narratives—and integrate these stories into the architectural fabric. In large metropolises or small, overlooked districts, the method reveals new possibilities: an active dialogue between contemporary needs and historic significance.
Continuing the Conversation
Mabel’s dedication to bridging art, architecture, and communal heritage is evident in every aspect of her work. She has previously honed her perceptive eye at Kris Yao Artech, a renowned firm in Taipei known for sensitive urban interventions, and reinforced her practical skills through hands-on construction management. Now based in London, she is actively seeking further engagements within the built environment industry. As an illustrator, Mabel continues to experiment with creative storytelling, utilizing vivid drawings to visualize the complexities of architectural intervention. Her community engagement work complements this approach, involving local voices to spark new ideas about preservation, urban texture, and the shared living archive we inhabit.
To connect with Mabel and discover more about her Khut-Kang project—or to explore possible collaborations in architecture, community engagement, and illustrative design—you can reach out via her LinkedIn profile, follow her evolving work on Instagram, or send an email to mabel-wu@hotmail.com. As she sets her sights on new opportunities in architectural practice, her pursuit of revealing and shaping collective memory stands as a potent reminder of the transformative power of thoughtful urban design. Through Mabel’s eyes, each neglected pocket of the city is a ripe canvas, waiting to be explored, rediscovered, and reimagined for generations to come.
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