Report 2009.08 EASTS
From Architect HSIEH and Atelier-3
East Asian Science
DOI 10.1007/s12280-009-9087-4
Enabling Solidarity into the Steel: Rethinking Innovation from East Asian Cases
Chia-Ling Wu
Received: 28 April 2009 / Accepted: 28 April 2009 National Science Council, Taiwan 2009
What is the exemplary architectural innovation in contemporary East Asia? The skyscraper Taipei 101, or the Watercube in the Beijing Olympic Park? Take a look at this issue’s cover, as EASTS invites you to enter a new world of East Asian innovation based on insights from Hsieh Ying-Chun’s (謝英俊) years of post-disaster reconstruction efforts in rural Taiwan and China.
In September 1999, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Taiwan, killing more than
2,000 people. Several aboriginal tribes suffered most seriously and were among the
groups who had the least resources to rebuild their communities. Taiwanese architect
Hsieh Ying-chun and his team Atelier-3 Worldwide came to those tribes to help, but
he aimed to achieve a vision that went beyond a temporary resettlement. He believed
that making new living spaces after a disaster could instill new hopes in a
community by promoting such ideals as solidarity, democracy, and sustainability.
Hsieh once reflected that “it is indeed the earthquake that gave me the chance to put
the theory of green architecture, public participation, and sustainable development
into practice” (Hsieh and Roan 2003, 4). Could it be possible to develop a new
housing project among the ashes and at the same time empower the local residents,
exalt the cultural heritage, increase employment, and restore the ecosystem—all
within a limited budget? The answer for Hsieh was a definitive Yes, but the question
for us is how was it done?
A technical innovation—the lightweight steel construction—plays a significant
role in Hsieh’s inspirational project, whose major elements include “simplified
construction” and “open architecture” (Roan 2007). Lightweight steel construction is
expensive in some industrialized countries due to the high patent fees for building
complicated connecting points. Hsieh, however, was about to reduce the number of
connection points to 10%, a feat that considerably cut down the costs of
construction. To involve aboriginals and volunteers in rebuilding communities,
Hsieh created a do-it-yourself method so that even people without formal training
could get their tools to work without too much effort. The flexibility of Hsieh’s
invention is further shown in the fact that residents could employ locally available
resources such as bamboo, wood, and bricks when building walls, façades, and
roofs. Hsieh, thus, inscribes the core values of social relationships—solidarity, public
participation, and local knowledge—into bolts, lightweight steel, and his open
architectural system. STS scholar Hsin-Hsing Chen (2004) calls this rebuilding effort
“the first large appropriate technology project” in Taiwan, for it consciously designs
progressive social values into technological innovation and social organization.
Hsieh’s Taiwanese lessons proved critical when similar challenges arose in a new
setting. In May 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit China’s Sichuan Province,
taking 70,000 lives and damaging three million houses. With the experiences gained
from his reconstruction work in Taiwan and previous projects in China, Hsieh Yingchun
and his colleagues traveled deep into mountainous areas in hopes of rebuilding
the devastated villages. Compared to Taiwan, the scale of the destruction in Sichuan
was considerably higher and the financial resources far more limited, but the
challenges of preserving ethnic minority cultures, incorporating local labor,
encouraging community participation, and protecting sensitive ecology remain the
same. The lightweight steel again proved to work well this time. Hsieh points out
that this invention serves as a “complex adaptive system” that can meet multiple
tasks and goals (Rural Architecture Studio 2009). In Hsieh’s field notes, he observes
that while residents in different villages may vary in how to respond to the
designer’s blueprint, how they sing folksongs during construction, and how they
utilize local materials, the lightweight steel serves as an interface that is flexible
enough to enable locals’ diverse engagement and creativity.
We choose the newly emerging Yangliu (Willow) Village in Sichuan—one of the
projects that Hsieh Ying-chun Architects and Rural Architecture Studio are currently
working on—as the cover for the opening issue of the EASTS’s third volume.
Although not as high-profile as Taipei 101 or the Watercube, Hsieh’s postearthquake
reconstruction projects over the past 10 years demonstrate an important
facet of architectural innovation in Taiwan and China. But more stories need to be
told and more questions addressed. How do local residents as users evaluate these
housing projects? How does expert culture transform when place knowledge, local
knowledge, and situated knowledge become important during the place-making
process? EASTS welcomes investigation into these inspiring issues, so as to help us
rethink, redefine, and reflect on the meanings of innovation and expertise.
To celebrate the birth of this new volume, we present our own innovation in a
new section called “STS Research in East Asian Languages: Selected Translation.”
In addition to providing multilingual abstracts, EASTS seeks to break down the
language barrier and enhance the visibility of the achievements of non-English speaking
East Asian STS communities through translation. The editorial board
formally nominates and selects important STS work for translation. The pieces
chosen represent significant contributions to East Asian STS research that have been
published in non-English languages like Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, but for
language reasons have not been available to a wider international audience. We are
all aware that relying solely on English publications might lead to a systematic bias
in understanding non-Anglophone societies. This problem is particularly severe as
much of East Asian STS research is published in languages other than English.
Before the ideal of a multilingual readership becomes common, EASTS seeks to
contribute to this endeavor by introducing a selection of influential East Asian STS
“classics” to the broader academic community. We hope that this “editor’s choice”
section will expand our horizons of the richness of East Asian scholarship.
The debut of this new section is Chung-hsi Lin’s “The Silenced Technology—The
Beauty and Sorrow of the Reassembled Cars.” This widely read (and possibly the
most loved) STS article from Taiwan discusses how the specific socio-cultural
contexts shape the production and use of reassembled cars. Lin challenges the
mainstream perception that reassembled cars used on sugarcane fields and oyster
collection sites are risky, low-tech, and outdated. Through meticulous historical
investigation and fieldwork, he demonstrates that they, in fact, display numerous
qualities such as efficiency, effectuality, safety, and flexibility in their local context.
His work, thus, urges us to question and redefine, once again, what innovation and
expertise mean.
In addition to the special issues that EASTS readers may be more familiar with,
we joyfully present you four independent papers that form the major content of the
current issue. Stepping into the third year, we would like to take this opportunity to
announce that EASTS always welcomes independent submissions. The diverse topics
covered in this issue range from laboratory study to pharmaceutical regulation, from
hygienic modernity in Korea to scientific controversies in China. Still long for more
fresh issues and debates? Then, enjoy the book review section, and hopefully, its five
reviews will quench your thirst of the work of East Asian and international STS.
References
- Chen, H.-H. (2004). Cong shidang keji yundong jiaodu kan 921 zhenhou xieli zaowu yundong (The post-
September-21-earthquake collective reconstruction movement: a view from appropriate technology). In Y. F. Wang (Ed.), Jishu, wenhua yu jia: Tannan xieli zaowu zhi xingsi yantaohui lunwenji (Technology, cultural and family: reflection from the Tannan collective construction conference proceedings) (pp. 84–98). Kaoshiung: National Science and Technology Museum.
- Hsieh, Y.-C., & Roan, C.-Y. (2003). Wudingshang de shihulan: Guanyu jianzhu yu wenhua de duihua
(Orchids on the roof: dialogues on architecture and culture). Taipei: Ecus Publishing House.
- Roan, C.-Y. (2007). Xie Yingjun yi shehuixing de jieru zhiyi xiandai jianzhu de fangxiang (Hsieh Yingchun
challenges modern architecture with its social engagement). Shidai jianzhu (Time Architecture), 2007(4), 38–43.
- Rural Architecture Studio (Xiangcun Jianzhu Gongzuoshi) (2009). Fuza shiying yu huwei zhuti: Xie
Yingjun jiawu tixi de chongjian jingyan (Complex adaptive system and intersubjectivity: Hsieh’s house building system from the experience of reconstruction). Paper presented at the annual conference of Cultural Studies Association 2009, Taipei. Rethinking Innovation from East Asian Cases
C.-L. Wu
Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
e-mail: clwu@ntu.edu.tw
