While the house price keeps rising, owning a house becomes extremely difficult for most people in Taipei. Residency, however, should be an absolute right of every citizen, yet the developers dominate the real estate market most of the time. Curated by Roan Ching-Yueh, this exhibition presents Hsieh Ying-Chun's, a Taiwanese social design pioneering architect, completed design philosophy and efforts on improving people's involvements in constructing their own house. Hsieh believes that more than 70% of house constructions are irrelevant to architectural professionals. The needs of habitants, on the other hand, are the key.

There are three topics in this exhibition. The first one is the chronicle of Hsieh's efforts on social architecture in the past 20 years by presenting three selective major projects in documents, installations and objects. The second part demonstrates his study and insights in self-constructing network in rural villages in China. Then, the last part elaborates in details about how Hsieh develops the simplified building techniques based on earthquake safe steel-frame structure, which can be adapted to specific circumstances, traditions, skills and availability of materials. Further, visitors are also welcomed to experience the flexibility of use and texture of materials in two simulating houses in the exhibit.

About the architect

Hsieh Ying-Chun is a Taiwanese architect and devoted himself into social architecture. He has been helping people rebuild their house since the earthquake in Taiwan since 1999. In recent years, he keeps sharing his expertise in remote village in China and disaster area of Southeast Asian Tsunami.

Date : 2012.03.24 – 05.06
Place : URS21 Chung Shan Creative Hub, Taipei City
Curator : Roan Ching-Yueh