“Uncharted Exclaves — Modernism and Other -Isms in the Practices of Taiwanese Architecture”

Modernization might have found itself in Taiwan from the liberation of foot-binding custom on women to the election of its first woman president. The transformation took places concurred with political changeovers –from under Qing dynasty rules, Japanese Occupation, Republic of China\’s “Great Retreat”, the Cold War and the American “Military Aid”, “White Terror”, annulment of martial law/democratic reform and “Four Asian Dragons.” Indeed, Taiwan, aka “Ilha Formosa”, which struggles with its identity all along also finds itself engaged within the “world system” (Jameson, F. Remapping Taipei) through the drift and shift of adaptation, intervention and modernization.

Throughout its history, Taiwan has been the laboratory for architectural experiments, or more precisely, the exclaves of all architectural movements and the -isms. It was the last frontier for southern style Chinese architecture, the experimental field for Japanese young architects\’ endeavors, the perpetual battle ground for “Contemporary Chinese” versus “Traditional Taiwanese”, the restless landscape for postmodernism and its two non-formal counterparts, critical regionalism (Tzonis, Alexander & Liane Lefaivre / Kenneth Frampton) and dirty realism (Lefaivre, L. / Jameson, F.), and to be sure, the embracing sites of modernism. The lecture examines the architectural movements and the -isms as well as offers a glimpse of the recent Grands Projects and Millennials\’ explorations in Taiwan.

This event will include a discussion with Assistant Professor of Architecture,