Munich exhibit to feature Taiwan's post-quake architecture

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Taiwan's architectural initiatives in the wake of a devastating earthquake in 1999 will be displayed at an exhibition that opens in Germany next month.

The exhibition, titled "Taiwan Acts", will highlight the country's focus on the social roles of buildings, after the destruction of many structures and the loss of 2,400 lives in the September 1999 earthquake, according to the Architecture Museum in Munich.

Running from July 8 to Oct. 3, the displays will include projects aimed at improving the urban structure of Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan, and cultural buildings, infrastructure and houses in other parts of country, the museum said.

The projects feature work by Taiwanese architects Hsieh Ying-chun (謝英俊) and Huang Sheng-yuan (黃聲遠), from the Taiwan government's Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, and from various community development initiatives, according to the museum.

It said that since the 1999 quake, a number of architectural initiatives in Taiwan have been focused on the social roles of buildings in the country.

The "Taiwan Acts: Architecture in Social Dialogue" exhibition, the largest of its kind to date, shows commitment to a building and planning culture that has emerged from open social dialogue, the museum said.

"This exhibition is the first of its kind, showing the contemporary building culture of Taiwan in Europe," said Chiu Chen-yu (裘振宇), one of two main Taiwanese curators, in a promotional video.

Chiu is an assistant professor of architecture at Bilkent University in Turkey, while the other curator Wang Chun-hsiung (王俊雄) is director of the Department of Architecture at Shih Chien University in Taipei.

"We selected more than 100 projects categorized in five different themes, and ... most of them have very humble origins," Chiu said. "What makes these projects important is that they are responding to the critical challenges and difficulties of our society."

An opening ceremony for the Munich exhibition will be held on July 7.