30 May 2010 - Tamsui

Back to Tamsui again!

Yesterday's weather forecast was rather disturbing- thunderstorms all over Taipei. Be that as it may, today's sky featured no cloud. But in Taiwan, those clouds appear as fast as they vanish...

via捷运we arrived at Tamsui station, then sought for the nearest site - 清水庙。Ching Shuai Temple. The temple itself is very unique, in terms of excessive usage of gold plating.

The ceilings are filled with gold plated ornamentations, featuring dragons and mythical beasts, the bas reliefs, the columns. It is like a golden temple. Perhaps this temple is designed to harnes

s the power of wealth.

This temple is a shrine within a temple. Inside, you can n

otice the old shrine being protected by another newer canopy.

Another thing about the temple is that the 'Door Saints', one holding a peony flower and the other a vessel. Instead of being carved onto the doors they are statues being stuck on the doors and covered in a plastic box.

Then we moved on, to Tamsui Church, or 礼拜堂。This church is situated on a small hill, and it appears to be very tall, with a flight of stairs leading to the church interior.

In 1872, a Canadian Presbyterian missionary named George Leslie Mackay arrived at Tamsui. The present Tamsui Church was reconstructed in 1933 to commemorate the 60^thanniversary of Mackay’s

arrival at Tamsui.

Then we went to the Fisherman's wharf. It had started to rain, and there

were little fishing vessels bobbling around the horizon. The way along the sea was a long one.

We arrived at Fort San Domingo later on. This is a model (unknown scale) of the fort.

The fort is now a gallery museum, housing various tools and miscellaneous used during it's heyday.

29 May 2010

ARGH@_@!!!! Camera lost scare! False alarm.

Renyai-renyai in the morning. Got a NT$119 umbrella. Didn't know that I was going to lose it during mid-day. =S

We went (w/o Teoh) to have some breakfast and went on foot to the train station. Our 1st stop was the National Taiwan University. One word: huge. I think i came across a thousand bicycles within the school compound. It was raining, and we only had one hour, so... nothing much could be done.

Then we went to have some lunch over to another street opposite the uni. Nothing special so far.

Next stop was 西门町。Ximen. a bazaar. Thought i lost my camera there; spent like 2 hours to find it, but couldn't. Only stumbled upon it in my own pouch that very night. lol

Summary for the day: not much into an academic trip, but more to a leisure one.

Losses: A pair of sneakers, socks, an umbrella, and a lot of spirit.

28 May 2010

1st night @ CYCU guest room. Woke up to attend their architectural crit. Students mentioned about the urban analysis they did, including the history, topography etc. They also discussed more on spatial strategies(entrance etc). Noticed a few plans segregating pedestrian and vehicles.

However unlike UCSI, I see the lack of research on designs and concepts, of course.

Then we went to explore the architecture school compound. They were much better equipped. Then the school of architecture belanja us a dinner at some famous duck restaurant. Pity we didn't even close to halve the food. Then at night we had sharing session.

27 May 2010

Tainan. Woke up at around 5.30am by the morning call. Prepared and went out to Confucius park opposite zi yue to take some photos. Made sketches of the park. The park features quite a few intriguing Chinese and Japanese architecture and houses a few trees, one of them an old and huge Banyan which has withered through improper care.

Next we were brought into a Japanese era bungalow used for various purposes (including by the Americans as a theatre) and is now going through a restoration process. We met the chiefs engineer and contractor (presumably) and they led us through the lost details of the old structure.

It is primarily a wooden post & beam structure with a mix of rc concrete and load bearing brick masonry at its base as water retardant. The finishes vary from mosaic, ceramic, stucco, stone, cherry tree etc. LATH. We could notice the K-bracing in the wall and the layers of coats applied.

Another interesting feature was the electrical services. Electrical wiring was enclosed in ceramic tubes (isolation) to prevent short circuits or other calamities.

The 2nd floor on the other hand uses earthen bricks and bamboo strips as mesh and materials resembling gunny sacks. (hemp?) It is then topped with a Japanese style clay roof.

(to be updated)

26 May 2010

Today was rather fruitful. I would like to offer my gratitude to a few professors and staff of National Cheng Kung University for their warm hospitality and a fine dinner.

The university compound is an inferno, which covers an area of.. a huge area. Block by block of buildings which includes a high end restaurant and other facilities all belong to the national university. The inhabitants: 18,000.

We were in time for a meeting, which was held in the university architectural department. However, frankly i didn't really understand the contents of it, being one which had just finished year two. Barely. Anyway, from what we could catch about the meeting, it was about Japan's colonization of neighbouring settlements, reaching out its sovereign on namely Joseon, taiwan and some northeastern state. These events led to modernization of these colonies thru western influence Japan sought to learn and absorb from, in an attempt to counter Western's own expansionism.

Now, to anping. Anping is a port, once a Dutch settlement. It is one of, if not the oldest town in Taiwan. The United Provinces of the Netherlands developed An ping into a major port and incorporated fortresses like the Zeelandia and Provintia.

We stopped at the tree house and had a look at the tree overgrowth on some old masonry structures. Beside the houses was a wax museum, which mainly explains the arrival of foreigners to Taiwan.

Next was Fort Zeelandia. An impressive fort, developed, renovated and upgraded by the dutch, the qing dynasty, the japanese and the taiwanese govt. much of the main structures had already crumbled, leaving visible footprints and excavation sites. The remnants are now well preserved and serve as a footnote for tourists and researchers alike. We could also notice several gun platforms facing a land area which was once sea.

We then explored the innards of anping. The urban fabric was like no other: houses were built before laying infrastructures. Therefore the roads were formed from the gaps of houses. We then visited a society clubhouse landmark. Or something like that. One point on fengshui. Wooden panels which weapon features on it are situated right in front of the main entrance is to prevent 杀气 or death energy from entering a house interior.

Then we headed to an NGO office, which gave us a short lecture on their activities. This group of people are actually volunteers to provide the public an awareness about the importance and the need for preservation of heritage sites; buildings. They focus on adaptive reuse and the restoration of historical structures. From their works i could make out that they even sought to invest on green technology ie. skylights built on an old masonry shophouse, etc. Other features include using 2nd hand furniture on the interior, saving on costs. One of the interesting features of one of their study was about a structure which kept its rebars for adaptive reuse, now a decoration.

webby: www.fhccr.org.tw

after that we had a short trip to another temple which has Guang Gong as its main deity (I think) and many sub compartments serving different purposes. We also came across the fortress Provintia and had a wintermelon drink.

Dinner was on the staff of NCKU ! Fantastic food.

Back to CYCU tmr.

Pictures will be uploaded when i have 1) an adapter 2)another adapter 3)time. lol

25 May 2010

Morning. Yingge Ceramic museum.

The museum was built in 2000 to preserve and promote ceramic usage as well as upgrade existing ceramic technology. It also promotes ceramics as an art and conduct surveys. Of course, the museum collects ceramics of all sorts and keeps them in good condition. By and large it is there to induce awareness to the public of the importance of ceramics in the past and the time to come. The museum also features a ceramic studio to encourage tourist to get in touch with ceramics themselves.

The design included louvered ceilings, which create striped natural light on the beton brut columns. These lines act to strengthen the line designs of the balustrades. These array of horizontal and vertical lines of similar volume creates an interesting space of stripes amidst a huge space. Best of all, the huge building uses approximately less than 25% artificial lighting.

Bought a few souvenirs!

Then we went on the YZ university(forgot the name). Saw their facilities as a wealthy private U. Very impressive. They had cutting-edge machinery which one of the units could equal years of our school fees. And their school fees do not even come close to half of ours. Now i wonder where all our money went.

Then off we went to a Lao Jie, old street selling stuffs of all sorts. I got myself a crossbow, and finally found some guli fizz drink. 弹珠汽水。Then we went to a Temple and learn a gazillion things there. Including entering a temple by its left entrance and exiting via its right, the construction, ornamentation depths and such and such. Ref to vid.

Then we moved our luggage to cycu, and slept our last at our park hotel.

Tomorrow, An ping, Tai Nan

24 May 2010

(Updated 8 June)

Morning, and we are off to Taipei. 1st stop, 228 peace park. Resembles Central park in NYC. Built as a memorial for an incident similar to peristiwa 513 in Malaysia. Parts of the park were built at different eras. Eg. a private building now turned museum was built during Japanese occupation of Taiwan, and several Chinese structures during the Qing dynasty.

The park features a dense array of trees, man-made ponds; ancient artifacts, steam locomotives number 1 & 9 and also of course, various user friendly structures to name but a few.

The surroundings on bird's eye, the city planning runs on a grid pattern very similar to U.S. style(NYC). This is due to Japan's policy of Expansionism & Industrialization picked up during her sending of students abroad. Besides importing architectural & urban planning styles from the U.S. Japan also introduced modern efficient infrastructure to Taiwan as a step towards modernization. As Japan's occupation showed no mercy to Qing fortress walls, we could not help but notice that the Mayor of the time 'rocks from city blocks'.

Taiwan, after numerous attempts from mainland China to annex it had to have a stronger national identity, as well as an unwavering patriotic fervour. Therefore several plans were drawn up to preserve buildings & structures which were older than 80 years old. And this happened decades ago.

Then we came across the National Taiwan University Hospital. You know, a picture is worth (more than) a thousand words. Queen Anne style, verandah etc. Will add on more once i can upload the pix.

Next stop, endless rows of, interestingly, shophouses! These buildings had had their technology 'borrowed' from Malaysia & S'pore, refined, adapted and put to good use.
Seemingly different from their Jamek mosque-Petaling st. counterpart, these Taipei shophouses accomodates an even wider '5-ft-way' to allow the ground floor entrance to shy away from sun penetration. They are normally a couple of stories higher than our own version at home, allowed by better technology and obliged by a denser population quota around specific areas of Taipei.

Had beef(AGAIN!!!) noodles for lunch. Got milk?

And then... the Taiwanese 'White house' or President's building, guarded by dozens of rifle wielding guards. (no photo shooting or they shoot you)

Lastly some breath-taking space. Looks like Hyde park. (will update) very very brutalism.

Guten nacht.