Month: November 2018

The Architect – Taipei to Busan

I was invited by Dong-Eui University in Busan to expand the conversation on gentrification.  As it happens, displacement is happening throughout the world as real estate prices are rising exponentially.  In Taipei for instance, real estate prices have rose 70% in from 2005-2014. And with this rise in real estate, the income has not risen at a similar rate. It’s not enough to say who cares and let the markets continue to rise at unsustainable rates.

American Indonesian Exchange Foundation supported the trip  to Busan with the goal of encouraging the exchange of ideas within the region, and this trip was educational for me, but also I  spoke to the students and faculty at Dong-Eui University about my research.. I learned that Busan faces similar issues.  I learned that they also have a team currently investigating the role of gentrification in the city of Busan. I delivered a lecture in English and my former classmate, Jin Kyu Kang, translated the lecture into Korean.

My interest in applying for the Fulbright Scholar program, started with the co-creation of a course at Pratt Institute, “Productive Collisions” with co-professors Jack Travis and Jeffrey Chen.  The course has three goals which include an interdisciplinary approach, student awareness, and facilitating design to generate understanding. My lecture framed gentrification as it has occurred in Brooklyn and begin to explore the ways the “Productive Collisions” course has approached educating students about social issues surrounding Pratt Institute.  As part of the lecture, I introduced them to the work we are doing with Reconnect Brooklyn in the collaboration Productive Collisions.

With the translation included, the lecture lasted over two hours and was followed up with a conversation and student and professor questions. In many ways, our concerns are more similar than different, but more importantly, as academics I believe that architects and designers should be in many ways involved in these conversations.  Design strategies can be used to create solutions. We share a planet and the planet in many ways revolting against us with rising sea levels, wildfires, and extreme shifts in climate. Coincidentally the weekend we were in Busan the global climate report was released in America. Architects and urban planners have to be invested in solving these issues.

Busan to Seoul

We took the high speed rail from Busan to Seoul.  The travel time was 2 hours and 15 minutes and the amount of distance traveled was 325 km/505 miles.  Within hours, we transformed from a coastal city to the metropolitan of Seoul.  Seoul is a city that loves design.  You can tell by the way the residents are dressed and by the look and feel of the city.  There is great attention paid to the aesthetic of the urban environment.   I am certain there must be a historical context, but unfortunately, I  haven’t been able to fully understand the history.  We did start our visit with historical structures of Jongmyo and Gyeongbokgung Palace.  You can see a brief description below and a few images from our trip.   We finished our trip with one of Zaha Hadid’s last projects, DDP.  With a budget of $446 million, this project is the essence of the Starchitect Architectural movement.  The scale is grand, the materials are innovative, and as a building (beyond programming), it is a cultural attractor.

Jongmyo 

Jongmyo is a shrine based on Confucian principles dedicated to the spirits of the former Kings and queens that once ruled Korea.  The structures are simple wood structures that intentionally lack adornment. It is on UNESCO World Heritage list (1995).

Gyeongbokgung Palace  

Gyeondgbokgung was established in 1395 by the Joseon Dynasty that ruled Korea from (1392-1910). It’s situated adjacent to the mountains.  The literal meaning is “brilliance and fortune”. The palace was destroyed in 1592 by fire and was in ruins for 270 years until 867 when it was restored by Heungseon Daewonggun.  The restored palace suffered more damage between (1910 – 1945) during Japanese occupation. In 1990, Japanese structures were removed and the palace was restored.  

Dongdaeum Design Park (DDP) – Zaha Hadid’s Final Public Project

This building exudes Zaha Hadid’s style.    A 338 SM cultural center sits in the garment district of the city. This building is striking and the scale is monumental.  You can wonder throughout this space for hours. It is programmed as a space for public art display.  It is impossible to capture the building from just one camera shot.  It is dynamic and complex and if you have an interest in architecture,  you should see this building.

The Matriarch – Leila Loves South Korea (too)

Leila’s most challenging and impressive feat is that she sat through a two hour lecture I delivered at Dong-Eui University with minimal fidgeting or disruption. She acted as the photographer for the day documenting most of the lecture and when I finished she walked up to me and let me know that I did a good job.  This is the same Leila that will also throw a tantrum about ice cream, but in fairness, we had a pretty detailed conversation about our trip and the importance of it. This was a test run for us and that if she was unable to travel and sit through the not so entertaining parts of the trip, we would likely be unable to make other similar trips.

Leila and I both know very little Korean but managed a correct pronunciation of “thank you” before we departed.  Leila’s social personality makes her an ideal traveler. She is often meeting children on the train, in the park, or any public place when she is in her element.  When she’s tired, we have to completely shut down our schedule for the day until she recuperates. The weather is 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler in Korea, and on Saturday morning,we woke up to snow.  Leila has expressed her love of the seasons and when I mentioned that she would likely not see snow in Taipei, she was really upset, so to wake up to this surprise in Seoul made her day. We visited, the Thanksgiving weekend (which is not celebrated outside of the U.S.), but obviously a very important holiday on our calendar – a time to be with family and friends.  Seoul has a different look and feel than Taipei.  There are several shopping malls. The building feel intentional and the historic spaces are given space to breathe from the more contemporary architecture.  

Life in Taipei

The scale of Taiwan is comparable to the size of the state of Indiana.  Within two hour flight time North, you could potentially be in Japan or Korea.  A two hour flight south places you in the Philippines. Directly West of Taiwan is Mainland China and Hong Kong is also a 2 hour flight just East of Taiwan.  Taiwan is also an ideal location for visiting other countries in Asia relatively quickly. The closest flight from the United States, is an 8 hour trip from Hawaii. Flights within the region are from $100- $300 US dollars.  Leila and I have taken several trips in Taiwan beyond Taipei, but this is our first time outside of Taiwan.  We have more trips to come and we are so fortunate to have friends and family throughout the region.  

 

The Matriarch – The Honeymoon

The stages of culture shock are honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance.  Technically, Leila and I are still in the honeymoon phase since we have been in Taipei just over two months.  I’m curious if and when we will hit the “frustration” phase. My most dramatic cultural shift to date was my move from Nesbit, MS to Washington, DC. I moved from a rural area to an urban environment, and I had to adjust fairly quickly.  I was a Freshman in college and the shift in cultural was in a way invigorating.  The differences were the differences I needed.  Mississippi remains an extremely marginalized space for black people, and at the time when I moved to DC, it was popularly celebrated as “chocolate city”.  I’m curious if the transition from a global, diverse urban environment like New York, will pose the same challenges. I lived abroad in 2000 for a summer in Florence, Italy to study environmental design.  The time period was not long enough to warrant culture shock, but toward the end of my stay, I vaguely remember feeling nostalgic for American culture.  In particular, I missed the sounds from my favorite music.   Ipads and Ipods had not been invented and music streaming services were not ubiquitous. Times have changed pretty dramatically. In a way, the world has become much smaller. I can feel connected to what my friends and family are doing through social media. Leila and I can pull up our personal music lists on Spotify for our impromptu dance parties. We can use Whats App to immediately speak to our friends and family (although the extreme time difference does present a challenge).  Technology has the ability to draw us closer since we are geographically distant.   

I have been watching Leila closely to see how our dramatic move will impact her.  I am not writing this blog as a working mom that has all the answers, but as mom that is doing my best to figure things out.  There are some days that self doubt creeps into my psyche and I question myself– especially the week when we were inundated with multiple doctors visits and found out Leila had Scarlet Fever. Was it the right decision to move my daughter so far away from friends and family and everything familiar?  Can I give her everything she needs over the next eleven months?  As a working mom, I’ve struggled with feelings of guilt.  My work schedule in New York was difficult.  Since Leila was two, she has been in pre-school from 8:00 in the morning until 6:00 evening.  With a bedtime between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm that left very little time for us.  The most dramatic difference in our schedule  is now I pick Leila up from school at 4:00.   We spend afternoons at the park.  We go on adventures after school to new places, and we spend time really talking, reading, and drawing.  There are times that I do remind her that my schedule in Taipei gives us so much more time together and my work schedule is very different than in New York.  But of course, with that, I also want her to understand that there are trade offs.  I am hopeful that when we return in July that she will recognize, understand, and appreciate these trade offs. 

The Architect – Sacred Spaces in Taiwan

Some of the most famous architectural spaces on earth are spaces for prayer and worship.  St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome (1626), Notre Dame in Paris (1345), and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (1708).  When the Chinese migrated to China during the Qing Dynasty rule, they also brought the architecture of Buddhist and Taoist temples with them.  Leila and I had the chance to visit Longshan Temple and Bao’an Temple and Garden. General impressions include color and material similarities, and both are layered with similar iconography as well as  identical site plan layouts. The symbolism of the dragon appears dominant in both as well as the traditional Chinese vernacular architectural roof line. Both temples are now located in the midst of the bustling city and directly adjacent to the buildings commonly seen in the urban landscape in Taiepi.  Baoan Temple has a much larger site. It is designed with an extended garden area beyond the temple. In reading on the history of Chinese architecture, there is a very detailed and precise rules for space planning, and this is deeply embedded as a cultural practice. Most buildings were designed with bi-lateral symmetry and balance was important to the architectural and life philosophy.   Even the way that space itself was measured was meticulously written into law. Westerners may understand this practice as Feng-shui.

While these are both historic buildings, they were not flooded with tourists but crowded with local residents visiting for a ritual prayer.  Many people are lined up to collect their incense, light them with strategically placed fire pits, and then pray to the discrete areas aligning the temple.  There were also tables filled with offerings for the ancestors.

Longshan Temple is founded in 1738 and contains the God of Mercy.  The name originated from the Fujian province in China where a similar temple was historically located.  The temple houses deities from Taoism and Buddhism. The Longshan Temple was erected during the Qing Dynasty rule, but the architecture is not original to that period of time.  The new temple rebuilt during Japanese occupation in 1919 and designed by Architect Wang Yi-shun. The dragon columns in the front area are the only bronze columns in Taiwan. The temple is flanked by two towers — one for bell and the other for drums.  Double eave roof lines are consistent throughout most of the structures. Wang introduced some western techniques into his design. He added Corinthian Capitals on some ornamental columns.

Images Longshan Temple

Bao’an Temple Garden is known because it is the only temple in Taiwan to receive UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conversation.  The temple itself is dedicated to Baoshen Dadi, the Emperor of Health worshiped in the Minnan region of China.  Built in 1742.  Baoshen was a doctor that saved many people from a local health scare.  Bao’an temple 5 renovations in the last 200 years. The 1919, the temple was renovated by two architects. Rather than select one architect for the renovation, they divided the building in half and let each implement individual strategies for the renovation.   If you look closely, you can see that the building is not identically symmetrical.

Images Bao-An Temple

Life in Taipei – Cost of Living

Food and coffee prices in Taipei are sometimes unbelievably low.  Lunch on National Taiwan University campus costs approximately $1.75 – $2.50 USD and a latte at a local coffee shop is around $2.50. There are expensive restaurants and if you’re seeking specialty cuisine or a famous tourist destinations, it is likely you’ll pay a premium.  The popular night markets that have historically used informal spaces to sell food and beverages are inexpensive and very popular. Leila and I live close to Shida night market and have our favorite places. Again, we can pick up a meal and a bubble tea at the night market for less than $5.00 USD.

Imported beers and wines are equivalent to the U.S. prices. You can easily pick up alcoholic beverages at 7/11 but wine and cocktail offerings are not so common in Taiwanese restaurants.  While in New York, I’d typically have a glass of wine (or two) with dinner. In Taipei, the offerings have been either non-existent, questionable quality, or when the quality increases, the price increases substantially.  When my husband was visiting, he managed to find a New York style bar with a mixologist, specialty cocktails, and English speaking bartenders. Since I am traveling with Leila, I have not had a chance to explore the Taipei social scene, but my observation has been if there is a heavy drinking scene in Taipei, it is not that visible.  

The housing prices are disproportionately high when compared to the average salary of a Taiwanese resident.  A two bedroom apartment in the Da’an District ranges between $1.2 million – $1.8 million. In short, if you owned a coffee shop; you’d have to sell 72,000 lattes for a 10% down payment on a home. Affordable housing in Taipei is a major urban planning issue, and the housing prices have grown increasingly unaffordable driving some people further away from the city center.  

 

 

 

The Architect – Taiwanese Architectural History

During this period we are now investigating the architecture built during the Qing Dynasty.  This period lasted from 1683 -1895. The Lin Family Mansion completed around 1847 falls during this period.  The preserved architecture of Taiwan includes several temples. Since this period represents a few centuries, we will be spending a longer period during this investigation.   We had a brief departure back to Toad Mountain where we attended a public exhibition. Returning to Toad Mountain, even with the expanded context of Taiwanese architectural history was enlightening. I was able to see the spatial constructions with a different perspective.  It was our plan this week to visit the Mengia Longshan Temple that was built by Fujian immigrants in 1738. However, because Leila came down with an unexpected illness; we had to put our visit on pause. There comes a time when the matriarch roles supersedes the architects and this week was one of those weeks.   

The Matriarch – Nurturing Leila

    Leila and I had to have our first experience with the healthcare system in Taiwan.  Now, we are both fine, but she encountered a virus that resulted in a fever and mysterious rash.  Health insurance for me is immediately covered as a Fulbright scholar in Taiwan’s universal healthcare program.  Leila’s coverage will begin after six months of residency. Unfortunately, she needed medical service before the six month time period. Another small issue is that we were both covered under my husbands family plan and in the interim, he happened to switch jobs, so at this time Leila is not covered under his plan.  Actually, none of this was a huge problem for us. Leila had a total of four doctor’s appointment in the past weeks,and I paid for her uninsured appointments out-of-pocket. The appointments ranged from $30-$50 for each appointment. This fee also included the necessary prescriptions. The pharmacy is located in the doctor’s clinic and when we checked out, we paid and retrieved our pharmaceutical needs in the same building within minutes.  When we arrived to the appointment, I came with several books, an Ipad, and crayons and activities. When going to the doctor, especially without an appointment, I’ve learned to anticipate a long wait. For all four visits, we waited no longer than 10 minutes. The system’s advantage is its efficiency. Each time we entered the office, the waiting room was completely full.

Life in Taipei – Language Challenges

My Mandarin is improving, but not to the extent that I can have a conversation about allergies, history of skin sensitivities, and medical history.  When I first took Leila to the doctor, I noticed a rash on her skin. It was extremely unusual because she has no allergies of note nor has she ever broken out before.  It was pretty strange. I dropped my commitments for the day, and immediately took her to the clinic that was in the neighborhood on Tuesday morning. The first diagnosis was a doctor who spoke very little English (still much better than my Mandarin), but had a nurse translate for us in the appointment.  He was so apologetic for his English skills that I started to feel badly. She was given a topical treatment, and we were told if there wasn’t improvement by Thursday we should return. I took her back to school assuming it was an allergic reaction. Wednesday, she went to school and by noon, I received a phone call about a fever.  We returned to the same clinic. We saw a different doctor. Her diagnosis was still that the rash and the fever were unrelated. We were prescribed a fever reducer and continued the allergy treatment for the rash. Thursday, we proceeded with this treatment, but Friday, when we woke up with the a spreading rash, we went back to the doctor.  We were diagnosed and re-prescribed an antibiotic. We finally started to see some progress on her health.

    There are so many variables at play in our experience that it is difficult to draw any conclusions.  I’m grateful that all of the appointments were affordable since we do not have health insurance. I believe the incorrect diagnosis was maybe a result of a system where doctors are seeing a high quantity of patients daily, and a result of me not being able to communicate so clearly about Leila’s medical history and symptoms.  

    As a professional mom, I really felt it this week.  I had to put any work on hold and my priority became making sure that my daughter was well. Between naps and doctor’s appointment, I was able to fortunately work from home and am glad this is an option available to me.  The largest limitation was the inability to visit sites, but in other very positive news; Leila became an actual bike rider without training wheels, and she managed to do this with a fever. 

Learning Mandarin

我們家在大安捷運站附近。早上我的女兒去學校上課。我的女兒週末早上常常去踢足球。他早上八點開始上課到九點結束。踢足球很有意思, 但是他不喜歡看比賽。週末早上, 我去台南學建築,房子,和大樓。我和我的女兒坐公共汽車到高鐵. 我在網路上買車票. 在高鐵 , 我們看多本書。高鐵有快，又舒服，跟很好喝咖啡.我們坐計程車到安平古堡去. 計程車很非常貴. 我們參觀安平古堡 . 我們在台南從中午十二點玩到晚上六點。我們每個週末都沒空最近我們忙.我們喜歡參觀台灣 和我們喜歡多照相.