Building a statement

Over the past week, passersby to Taipei's Museum of Contemporary Art (台北當代藝術館) have looked on in wonder as an odd looking two-story structure has risen slowly in the museum's forecourt.

Part of an exhibition entitled Myxomycity (黏菌城市) -- which explores the many facets of local architecture -- the construction project is not just an exhibit, however. According to its creator, architect Hsieh Ying-chun (謝英俊), the building is a statement.

"I want to show people just how simply a home can be built. You don't need to hire gangs of expensive and skilled laborers and it doesn't have to cost a fortune. Anybody can do it and everybody can afford it," explained the architect. "After all, everyone is entitled to a home, not just those with money."

The 60m2 building, the materials for which cost NT$200,000, is designed to the same specifications and constructed with the same materials as Hsieh employed in his somewhat controversial re-housing project in Nantou County. While that project saw scores of Shao (邵族) Aborigines made homeless by the 921 earthquake re-housed in 110 cheap and environment friendly dwellings, several charity groups and local politicians, hoping to secure the lucrative re-housing contracts for themselves, were critical of Hsieh and reportedly threatened the architect.

"It wasn't as bad as reports made it out to be, but there was friction. It was a question of money. And I guess the cheap cost of our buildings upset a few people," Hsieh said.

Exhibition organizers initially considered using a scaled down model of Hsieh's buildings. The idea was short lived, however, with both Hsieh and curator Roan Ching-yueh (阮慶岳) acknowledging that the use of a small model would prove ineffective.

"A model would leave on-lookers with little understanding with regards to Hsieh's concept of cheap and affordable housing," Roan said. "So we decided to go ahead and build a real one to the same specifications as those built by Hsieh's housing projects in Nantou County."

In order for Hsieh to show how simply his steel and wood structures are to construct, the labor force employed on the project is made up of volunteers from all walks of life. Salesmen, secretaries, mothers, grandfathers and even retirees have all been keen to enlist into the work-details.

Since construction work began last week, site foreman, Liu Huan-chang (劉煥成), has seen upwards of 50 volunteers. "I was surprised at the numbers of people offering to help. I mean, the weather is really hot, there's little shade and still people are turning up," Liu said.

Along with the surprisingly large number of elderly folks who have been offering their services, there has also been one instance when a 10 year-old boy turned up wanting to spend a day as a construction worker.

"Obviously he was too young to work on the site. We don't let anyone who is under 18 take part," Roan said. "We let him stay, though, and he seemed very happy to play with a paper construction model while his mother helped."

While city councilors granted permission for the construction project, they were forced to veto a request by organizers who wished to sacrifice a pig on the museum grounds as part of a traditional Aboriginal house-building ceremony late last week.

"It was quite embarrassing as we'd informed a lot of people, including the local media, about the plans to hold a traditional Aboriginal house-building ceremony," Roan said. "What we didn't know at the time, however, was it is illegal to slaughter animals within Taipei City."