Taiwan Today

Architects envision a fusion of modern design knowledge and traditional materials like bamboo.

  Near the high speed rail station in western Taiwan’s Yunlin County lies a unique ecological park that rose to fame as the site of the 2013 Yunlin Agriculture Expo. The park’s innovative approach to environmental sustainability through creative application of bamboo won its designers Taiwan’s top architecture honor in 2015. A large canopy of steel and bamboo from southeastern Yunlin’s mountainous Shibi area shades visitors entering the park, where an umbrella-shaped structure is supported by ribs of bamboo and a restroom facility’s bamboo roof and supportive pillars float above concrete walls to invite natural light and enhance ventilation.

The Taiwan Architecture Award garnered by these works marked a turning point in the country’s contemporary architectural scene by rewarding D.Z. Architects and Associates’ decision to reconnect with local traditions and Indigenous practices of using bamboo as a key construction material. The firm, founded by Li Lu-chih (李綠枝) and Kan Ming-yuan (甘銘源), went on to design an assembly hall with a bamboo truss roof 24 meters in diameter—the largest structure of its kind in Taiwan—for Chang Jung Christian University in the southern city of Tainan.

  D.Z. Architects is now based in Douliu City, Yunlin’s county seat, on the site of a decommissioned state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp. factory that operated from 1908 to 1996. As part of the county government’s program to revitalize the historic district, the facility has been managed and maintained as a valued industrial landscape under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. Home to Lizen Education Foundation, an endeavor begun in 2011 by Li, Kan and local activists to promote community regeneration, the factory site now fosters bamboo-related cultural and creative facilities such as Taiwan Bamboo Tectonics Institute (TBTI), which was launched last year by the foundation to foster skilled personnel.

Next Generation
D.Z. Architects focused on environmentally conscious construction even before Li and Kan turned to bamboo. “We have a remarkable supply of the plant in Taiwan,” Li said, explaining that it can be harvested from forests around the country. In contrast, building with lumber relies heavily on imports, and producing the steel that forms the skeleton of most modern architecture has a staggeringly large carbon footprint.

Bamboo is so plentiful in part because it grows with astonishing speed; yet despite that speed, its strength is uncompromised. Moso and makino varieties that grow locally provide strong, resilient material suitable for both construction and handicrafts. Constantly improving methods  and continuous development of crucial components like connectors help make the most of bamboo, according to Hsu Pei-hsuen (許倍銜), head of the Graduate Institute of Architecture at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City. “The plant’s scope and potential as a building material are constantly ­expanding,” he said.

Hsu chairs Taiwan Bamboo Society (TBS), which was established in 2013 to promote international exchanges. This year TBS and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency worked together to organize the 12th World Bamboo Congress in April at NYCU and other venues around Taiwan. The association also develops emerging architects through annual bamboo structure exhibitions launched in 2021. The first two editions saw works erected at Chiayi Forestry Culture Park in the southern city and stations along Alishan Forest Railway in Chiayi County. The inaugural event won a prestigious German iF Design Award in the institution’s urban/landscape architecture category in 2003 for its reinterpretation of the limits of bamboo.
  Practical Art
Hill Yeh (葉育鑫) from ProtoPlain Architects in the central city of Taichung first entered a TBS exhibition with a bamboo pavilion on the site of a former log storage pool at Chiayi’s culture park. For the society’s most recent event, he curated displays at NYCU and the factory site in Douliu that will remain as permanent facilities for the use and enjoyment of students and visitors. One featured piece by NK Kuo (郭恩愷) is a cocoon-like shape that arches over a bridge on the NYCU campus. The Taipei-based architect steamed bamboo culms to soften them into rounded forms, then covered the frame with material incorporating bamboo fibers. The work of international participants from Belgium and Japan was also displayed at the exhibition.

As a curator and architect, Yeh sees moving exhibits nearer to downtown ­areas as a way to bring bamboo structures into everyday life, thus refamiliarizing locals with a long-standing folk building tradition. He views the widespread presence of the plant in Taiwan’s lush forests as a unique environmental, cultural and industrial advantage that people should appreciate and take pride in. “Our output is of a very high quality,” he said. “For instance, the sticks used in Japanese kendo are mostly made of Taiwan bamboo.”

  Yeh added that while the construction sector has developed a mature command of standardized methods and sophisticated materials, alternatives like bamboo and earth can engender a more relaxed, instinctual work process. “This attitude represents a reflection on the established architectural norms and a greater awareness of the relationship with surrounding space,” he said.

Respected Roots
The link between humans and landscape is what TBTI seeks to address. “In Taiwan and the rest of the world, specialized ­division of labor has increasingly alienated construction activities from the land and environment,” Li said. “By offering hands-on courses, we want to rekindle the memory and culture of bamboo building as a basis for innovation.”

  Last summer, more than 20 people from different walks of life joined an eight-week project to erect an Indigenous Puyuma ttakuban, a gathering place for adolescents to learn about society and their place in it before stepping into the community as an adult. This year, a similar course will focus on the bamboo house traditionally built by the Holo people, Taiwan’s largest ethnic group. TBTI also cooperates with institutions like National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Douliu to provide vocational education. Through his position at NYCU, Hsu was instrumental in organizing the student section at TBS’ inaugural exhibition, which featured architects still in training at universities in Taipei, Yunlin, Tainan and northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City.

Cultivating a pool of professionals with the knowledge to build bamboo structures is vital if this sustainable option is to take root. “It’s not just about creation. It’s about raising environmental awareness, valuing traditional wisdom and incorporating modern knowledge and skills,” Li said, emphasizing the need to build a base for continuous learning and the accumulation of experience. To address this need, TBTI provides a ­dedicated workspace and training center. Li views the institute as an essential part of joint public and private development of a healthy bamboo business chain, starting with bamboo thinning and reforestation projects now underway in places like Yunlin’s Shibi. “Bamboo forests are outdoor classrooms where our students can learn about an industry that had an immense impact on this area,” Li said. “By better understanding our history, we can bring about a bamboo renaissance that connects past and future while encouraging innovation inspired by tradition.”
 

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw