Taiwan Today

Architect Lee Chu-yuan strives for an unorthodox, but reassuring, charisma. His office is sparse, and painted in shabby off-white; its center is filled with an oversized square white table. Matching the decor, Lee wears white pants and a white jacket. Only a set of unvarnished straight-backed Chinese chairs breaks the cool ambience.

Of slight build, with hair flowing back from his forehead and over his ears, Lee smiles frequently as he speaks.

"Architecture doesn't need to be utilitarian, but it does need to be democratic - that is, while a building must fulfill functions, it must also be enjoyed by and be accessible to the public."

Lee is speaking of his recently completed Worldwide House, Taiwan's first office building with a floor to ceiling atrium - 14 stories to the skylight - which occupies an imposing sight near Taipei's Sung Shan Airport.

"We need happy workers and inviting public spaces," says Lee of his unconventional design, which has been criticized for wasting space. The true test of a building's efficiency, he responds, is if people are willing to pay for an improved environment. He insists that he had little trouble convincing the Chiao Fu Real Estate Co., the owners of the building, that buyers would accept higher rental costs in return for a more liveable environment. The public response proved him right: the building is completely rented out, and includes such prestige clients as an international bank, an airline, and the ROC government's Council for Cultural Planning and Development.

Lee says the main purpose or his atrium is to create a welcoming space that protects the public from Taipei's 90 degree stifling heat and humidity, and frequent smog. Within the building, the air is refreshing; people can pause to talk or read a book beside a palm garden, or enjoy the rippling sounds of the several fountains.

Terraces on each floor circle the atrium, allowing workers to leave their offices, stroll along vine-covered walkways, and look over the city on one side, and the atrium's gardens and fountains on the other. From Lee's point or view, the atrium brings workers together, while a conventional building separates them, forcing them to meet only in elevators or windowless corridors.

Lee seems to enjoy the disdain for function that his building exhibits. “At night it's like a great lantern at the top of the street, beckoning people," he says enthusiastically.

Lee, who presides over a thriving office that is working on several monumental projects, notes that architecture in Taiwan has developed through many stages. The first focused on engineering. The idea 20 years ago was to simply get buildings up as fast as possible; design was a luxury. Then, he says, came the stage when the dollar reigned; designers joined hands with engineers to put up buildings. But the emphasis was always on getting the most square footage at the lowest price - the designs tended to be low quality and uniform.

Then, he says, came a stage where materials were given serious consideration, and architects were given more time to experiment with varying shapes and forms. This is the stage in which design has existed pretty much until today, says Lee. It is characterized, he says, by general adherence to what is loosely defined as the "International Style," in which technological and functional considerations generally determine the form of a building.

Lee says that the fourth and vanguard stage, which he considers to characterize his own work, stresses environmental and cultural values. It reflects the larger dimensions of human existence.

This is difficult for Taiwan, he notes, because the public has been accustomed to architectural norms borrowed from the West, and is not easily convinced that the creative endeavors of local architects are workable. Yet Lee feels thaf this battle for public recognition has largely been won, and that the coming years will see local architects battle with what he calls “The Question" - creation or a humanistic, indigenous architectural style. If Lee's building is one of Taipei's most significant, there is no shortage of others of distinction. In the last decade, steady progress has been made, not only in developing proficiency in the use of modern engineering techniques, but in transforming the gray uniformity of traditional shop house architecture into a varied landscape of dynamic urban forms.

One of the first steps in that direction was the construction, also by Chiao Fu Co., of Taiwan's first curtain wall building, the World Trade Build­ing. The new technique allowed architect Hung Tsung-ming to put up the fourteen-story building in only 13 months, half the time usually required. The building, sheathed in an auspicious gold, also incorporated central air-conditioning, an automat­ic fire control system, and new technologies de­signed to enhance the building's life by treating it as a living thing.

Since that time the curtain wall format has been introduced in many successful buildings. Noteworthy examples are the Cathay Insurance Building, in which a sheer aluminum wall blends with the windows. Architect Peng Yin-hsuen takes advantage of the closed-off urban space by letting the building tier out over the sidewalk.

Architect Hung integrated the curtain wall with a traditional tile material in the Asia Trust Building in 1978. Architect Lee, whose Worldwide House is perhaps the most innovative use of the curtain wall in Taipei, explains that although tile is not a traditional building material, its use here (in Taipei, in fact, it is not tile, but ceramic) is fre­quent because the material is best suited to resist Taipei's version of acid rain.

Another successful example of the curtain wall is the curved surface of the Wan Cheng Build­ing, one of the few examples in Taipei in which open glass wall corners give office users panoramic views of the city.

As glass walls have come into widespread use, there has been a reaction against their cold reflective quality. One example is the Ming Chih Build­ing (better known as the Formosa Plastics Build­ing) which effectively projects a modern, efficient, neo-classical monumentality. Architect Lee Chu­-yuan says he appreciates most the functional inte­gration of the windows, neatly sandwiched between forms reminiscent of Chinese design, into the massive surface.

Another important building, completed in 1978, was the Taipei City Medium and Small Business Bank Building, which was built of pre-cast concrete forms. This reduced on-site work and shortened construction time.

One building which marks the beginning of Lee's fourth stage of Taiwan's architectural devel­opment - in which new materials and engineering techniques give way to emphasis on more humanistic forms – is the Chang Hwa Bank Build­ing, which was completed in 1980. Above the bank operations area, architect Shen Tzu-hai created a rooftop garden; though it sacrificed much potential office space, it created a gathering place for workers - an elegant urban form in sharp contrast to the crowded existing offices of the busy Chung Shan North Road shopping/business area.

Architect Shen also designed the nearby Chia Hsin Building which, while not as elegant and simple as the deep-red Chang Hwa Building, nonetheless stands out as a structure of distinct, cleanliness. Many see this building as the forerunner of the Formosa Plastics Building.

Two final buildings that signal a new daring on the part of Taiwan architects are the Cathay Building and the Gemini Towers. Both are character­ized by a sculptural quality frequently referred to as "landmark." The Cathay Building, with its closed white ceramic exterior, is entered through a gaping arch, which seems less a door than the result of someone lifting the building up on its edge.

A similarly exciting urban space is the Gemini Towers by architect Peng Ying-hsuen. Peng stud­ied under Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, and has established himself as a ranking local architect through articulate, modest buildings which reveal a careful attention to detail. Located along the broad tree-lined Tun Hwa Road, the Gemini Towers is a new departure in the use of curtain glass walls in a circular form. Below, the architect left an unadulterated urban space for the use of the public.