The Four-Faced Buddha of Yongkang Street 永康街四面佛 is one of the smallest shrines I have ever seen in Taiwan. It occupies a tiny alcove next to an underground parking garage on Xinyi Road 信義路 east of Dongmen Station 東門站 exit 5 and the original Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豊. This alcove might have been a parking attendants’ booth prior to automating the entire system, although this is not explicitly stated in the material I have reviewed. From what I gather this shrine is the work of a local papaya milk vendor by the name of Mr. Lin. Despite its diminutive size—half a square meter according to some reports—the cost of rent is in excess of 10,000 NT per month!
Symbiotic temples (共生之廟) are typically quasi-legal structures colonizing underused urban space and natural objects all around Taiwan. The term is derived from a book by the name of Parasite Temples (寄生之廟) by architect Lai Po-Wei (賴伯威), who was fascinated by these largely unremarkable temples found in the gaps between expressway onramps, inside markets and buildings, wrapped around old trees, tracing riverbanks, lodged beneath bridges, and otherwise fused with urban infrastructure or geophysical features.