Concepts 2000.08 2001.11 Dialogue 054 Mission Impossible-English Text
From Architect HSIEH and Atelier-3
2002.02
Mission Impossible
Ying-chun Hsieh and reconstruction solidarity
Translated by Gene K. King
A Contractor / Architect Mr. Ying-chun Hsieh, born in a Hakka family in Taichung, graduated from Tamkang University with a bachelor of Architecture degree in 1977,worked in C. K. Chen's office for a few years, and took on to be a contractor. He is a low-keyed, self-taught person who tenaciously looks for an independent way of thinking. It may be his natural inclination, or may be his self-discipline at this period, that he developed a knack for making the most out of everything by holding onto simple and basic principles.
He found out that the biggest problem with construction world in Taiwan is that there in no standardized and systematic production system. Almost everything is custom made, and it contributes to the lake of high-quality product high cost.
Examination. He later moved to Hsinchu to start his architects' office. His early commissions were very simple construction for tribal villages on the mountains, and he took it as a challenge for these projects with impossible budgets. He wanted to make a statement even out of corrugated metal shed, and he conclude another observation that architects in Taiwan are present only in the cities while the mountains and countryside are at the disposal of half-assed masons.
Later he got some commissions of hi-tech factories in Hsinchu, and his rational thinking and experiences as contractor help him to get good grips on construction and mechanical needs. While there is many cases of this building type got very fancy to boast the company's wealth as well as to attract more investors, Hsieh's design is always economical and down-to-earth. Everyone who visits the projects he designed would not dismiss his simple, clear, and rational style.
In Search of Essence One turning point in his career is the winning of Cultural Center of Hsinchu. Hsinchu is the jurisdiction with the largest Hakka population, and he got infused with a sense of mission with the project. He got in contact with U Theatrical Group, an avant-garde group, to look for his own interpretation of performing arts. He lived and trained with the group "From dusk to dawn, the world treads from brightness to darkness and into brightness again, members of the group feel their way in pitch-dark mountains and perform a variety of movements. In extreme exhaustion, one digs deep into instincts, and strips layer and layer of self-consciousness, like a trance, one melts with the environment and other members one interacts with, self is as tranquil as smoke".
It may be due to his understanding of the theater, or due to the quintessence he grasped; the auditorium is very different in the arrangement of seating and the stage. The audience gets the feeling that one can touch the performers. He also designed the acoustics, another self-taught department of his, and one can almost feel the breathing and heartbeat of the performers.
Like most public building in Taiwan, the program is simply too ambitious for its budget, and there is no operational budget and plan, but he finished it again with the impossible budget. One can sense many features of Hakka building, yet there are no direct transplants of building forms. The finishes are very simple, almost generic. Unlike some architects whose work are not supposed to be touched, his works are usually open-ended and leave rooms for other to fill in. "When a building is completed, it is only proper to make you feel that it is still needs something, and it is usually overdone when it is self-contained and perfect".
His design of Meinung Museum of Hakka Culture is one example. There is not much existing materials for exhibition and performing programs, and instead it is more of a base for accumulating these resources. He knows that what he designed is going to be partially. or even totally changed “The life of a building needs time, people, vegetation, and even moss to fill in so that it becomes a living organism”.
During construction, he was seriously challenged and questioned. The finishes are too crude, the building is not Hakka, not Meinung, etc. “Many architects imbue too much missions to the buildings they design, such as representation of local culture, cultural heritage, and of course internalized commercial culture, and yet the basics such as ventilation, natural lighting, functions etc, are neglected" Mr. Hsieh’
Low-Tech Green Architecture Green Architecture is one of the dominant design principles of his, He believes modem industrial culture will run into a dead-end when the environment is al the brink of desolation and overused. and another revolution shall come His interpretation of Green Architecture follows his consistent preference, which is low-cost, low-tech. low-keyed, not too much form.
His design of Chantek Electronics and proposal for the competition of a Telephone Exchange Building shows his approach of double wall. It is not a complicated. hi-tech double wall of the European School, his proposal is an outer wail cantilevered from the main structure with inner wall next to the structure, and the top and bottom are covered with louvers. The space in between is covered with open grille like catwalks, and two walls can be built cheaply because there is already double protection of water, wind and thermal insulation.
Hsiao Tribe Community Right after 1999 Earthquake, a friend called up Mr. Hsieh and asked him to drop by the vicinity of Sun-moon Lake, which was seriously damaged. He ran into Hsiao Tribe who was in desolation, and it started his involvement in re-construction of Nantou. There is no telling if he can ever get out of it. He was seriously impressed with Hsiao Tribe, which is a marginal tribe among the original dwellers of Taiwan, who in turn are marginalized by immigrating Chinese. Unlike other tribes, Hsiao tribe never got converted to Christianity, and for long they hold on to their culture of ancestor worship There are only 280 member left of them, and they are taken as outcasts even among the Original Dwellers, and they hang on this thin thread of tradition secretly and wholesomely.
After the Earthquake, most tribal members lost their homes, and decided to get together to establish a real home for the breeding and continuation of their culture. Their ancestral farmland near Dei-hua-sher is the only place that they truly have a sense of belonging. Mr. Hsieh's took the lead of locating very limited funding. and used it as wages for labor to build their own homes, and a dreamland of bamboo houses were established.
This community made a breakthrough of the thing models of modern architecture, and also broadens the scope of architectural practice into social movement, and even anthropological field.
Generalization of the Profession With his first hand observation at the countryside, he deeply felt the dilemma of the role of architects. Architects usually attribute this dilemma to the lack of understanding and respect for architects while Mr. Hsieh thinks it is a problem of social structure. Even in the United States, only upper-middle class can afford design fees. Most houses are industrial products, or traditional farmhouses with techniques passed down through generations, and are built by farmers themselves. In Taiwan, traditional way of building has been abandoned for long, and most farmhouses are designed and built by half-assed masons These masons have very poor grips with new way of living, new materials and construction principles, new architectural functions, and keep making wrong applications with limited knowledge. Earthquake did not change this fact, and 90% of re-built houses are still built in the same fashion but only with even higher redundancy.
As soon as Mr. Hsieh started designing typical drawings, he also established a pre-fabrication shop in the Hsiao Tribe Community in pursuit of the standardization of members and systematization of production process. The process from design to installation in the field is streamlined to ensure the execution of design qualities as well as to lower cost by 40%. Quantified production also diffuses design cost. He jokingly remarked that he is making the first step of modern architecture in Taiwan.
In addition, he also simplifies building member as well as installation process so that unskilled workers can he put to work with short-term training. These generic members and materials also prevent monopolization of the system by capitalists, and they are so flexible that users can make changes easily. Among about a hundred houses he already finished, not even one is totally identical with another, which helps to generate vitality and characteristics of each community. If his first step is a successful one, is it a big step for the architecture of Taiwan?
Rebuilding Tribal Communities After the Earthquake, most tribal members lost their jobs, and involvement in reconstruction help them to be paid for wages as well as to rebuild their own homes. This low-cost construction system and organization of Reconstruction Solidarity spoils the market price, and many groups who try to take over these constructions are seriously upset and try to boycott and isolate them. Tribal members are now much more aware of their own rights, and refuse to be manipulated by these groups. It is no longer a slogan that community reconstruction starts with people.
Reconstruction Solidarity also shows Mr. Hsieh's viewpoint towards the future of this area. It is estimated that there will be 100.000 farmers unemployed after Taiwan joins WTO. Mi. Hsieh instead integrates resources for earthquake reconstruction, and establishes channel far professional services, and organizes, trains "useless" "marginalized” people to participate in the promotion of reconstruction, green architecture and solidarity He also established Tribal Community Reconstruction University to attract more people who identify with the idea.
Till now, there are four solidarities established, and he thinks there is much more to do There are about 2500 tribal homes waiting to be rebuilt, and if 1000 of them are built by this pattern, wages for each home is 300.000 NT$ (US$9,000), with 300,000.000 NT$ funding, 750 unemployed tribal members can be put to work for a whole year.
The Meaning of Hsieh Symptom What does this model mean? In production system, he created the first standardized housing in Taiwan There is not yet a production chain in existence, and every member is made in the shop at Hsiao Tribe, and also reconstruction projects are extremely cost conscious Yet if a production chain does come true, and there are fabricators for steel, exterior wail panel, stair railing etc, there will be more mature and diversified patterns developed, It can also be an ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT ARCHITECTS. And because it is an open system, also it responds to local climate, and it is very easy to be passed down to others. Is it possible that this model can be like cave dwelling of Yellow Earth Plateau, habitation of Miao and Zuan people, and round castle of Hakka? Can it be passed down to future generations, and adapted according to the need of new conditions, and assimilate the experience and wisdom of future builders, and mature into a habitat of collective wisdom?
It also carries social functions, and many ex- convicts and town drunks find a sense of belonging by participating. It is no longer doing odd jobs for city people, it is to create something touchable and useful in a land they belong. They are not consumed in a consumer culture, and instead they create an enclave of simple and easy life. It may not be too far off that some people say he creates a commune, a cult, and even a religion.
In Sheltering Sky, the hero went deeper and deeper into the Sahara and never came back It seems like Mr. Hsieh also goes deeper and deeper into Nantou, and his identity ranges from architect, contractor, fabricator, teacher, community worker, green architecture advocate, and even cult leader, It seems like everyone of these identity was no accident if one traces back to his career One thing for sure is that he never preconceived his role, and he always tried to feel, search, discover, and redefine as he muddles through his way.
