Letter of self-reflection: Three Keywords

from Portfolio_Yen-Sheng_2023(1)

A Contextual Perspective to Reshape the Hillside

09 January 2023

There are three keywords I want to explore in my future studies or career. Even if they are all general concepts that fit various topics, each can become an independent subject that can be explored deeply.

"Power of plan"

Enric Miralles has emphasized that the process of making the floor plan is a process that includes the designer's abstract thinking that comes from the observation in the construction site, the sense of feeling, or individual experience, among others. From his perspective, the purpose of drawing a plan is not to aim to complete the design. Instead, combining and organizing different forces from different aspects would be the most valuable work in this process.

Regarding my personal experience, when I worked with the Taiwanese architect Liu, Chung-Sheng, the principal architect in Harmonious Architects & Planners, who also emphasized this concept. Based on his guidance, our team focuses on the unpredictable experience that can be contained in work, maximizing abstract factors that can be absorbed into the drawing. Many of our works focus on unseen rather than functional problems, using each clue to provide feedback on our graphics.

"Learning landscapes"

Taiwan is an island in a subtropical weather region, facing hot weather, a humid climate, and frequent earthquakes. Hence, Taiwanese architects must learn to co-exist with the above-mentioned extreme environment characters. Meanwhile, they are also focused on social communication with the local inhabitants.

With five years of working experience in Yilan, a rural northeast of Taiwan, I have practiced conducting this concept in my work. A case in point is the project "Nanfang'ao Tofu Cape Sailboat And Training Center" I managed before. The goal is to build architecture in extreme weather surrounding but still want to provide a strong connection with the environment. We decided to hide the main outdoor service spaces between the building and the mountain to defend against the strong sea breeze, leading to a broader and safer serving space for users. Rather than provide a closed box due to adverse weather conditions, the design uses the local geography feature to provide a safety design but still communicates positively with the natural surroundings.

Briefly speaking, "Learning landscapes" is a proactive action through observation to study the local feature. Using the site's advantages becomes the solution, providing a better win-win situation between landscape and architecture.

"Low-tech

strategy"

The below summary from Liu Jiakun, a Chinese architect, includes this notion I want to explore further. "The low-tech strategy emphasizes facing reality, choosing the relative simplicity of the technology, and paying attention to economic cheapness and feasibility...finding a balance between economics and technique, architecture and art. Thus this strategy explores and develops a path to follow, especially for a developing country with a profound civilization..." Liu Jiakun, Narrative Discourse and Low-Tech Strategies (1997).

In the case of "Su'ao Bus Transportation," at the initial design, we visited the local industry with some native people and consultors. We noticed this region has a vital concrete industry chain. Furthermore, it had been one of the essential transport areas for stone from east Taiwan. Thus many builds in the region used stone to decorate. Based on these discoveries, we designed to turn the concrete become the main station structure. The new station creates a sense of concrete and is used in different ways, like polished, stripping with water, or by hand, creating various works for natural stone in the main building's façade or furniture. Ultimately, this work is to respect the local industry and create a unique art piece based on its advantages.

In sum, these three keywords have shaped my architectural approach and become the region I want to explore further in the near future.