Japanese architecture student Ryunosuke Akuta’s design was chosen to be used in the rebuilding of a Fude temple (福德祠) in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯), the Student Competition of the Earth God Temple announced on Saturday last week.
The competition, held every two years, was organized by the Tai Square Art and Aesthetics Association and Tai Architecture Associates to renovate and rebuild Taiwan’s Fude temples that worship Tudigong (土地公, the Earth God) in ways that would fit the nation’s urban cityscape, the association said.
Akuta is a graduate architecture and engineering student at Osaka City University, it said.
Photo: Chang Ching-ya, Taipei Times
His design, titled Under a Roof, was among the 307 entries submitted last year by contestants from nine nations, including Austria, China, Japan, Spain and the US, although the event was not advertised abroad, the association said.
The competition was held to choose a design to rebuild the Fude temple in Dahe Borough (大和), which is awaiting relocation after the government purchased the temple grounds to build the Shuinan Trade Zone.
Under a Roof was among the three finalists selected last year by the competition’s first panel of judges and on Saturday last week a second panel, consisting of 53 judges, picked it as the winning design in a vote, in which about 70 percent of the panelists voted for Akuta’s design.
Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) presented the city’s commendations to the winner and the finalists.
Huang Chih-jui (黃志瑞), an architect and Akuta’s associate, said that the U-shaped design of the compound, with its ends pointing toward the street, is a symbol of tolerance and openness.
The temple’s drooping roof preserves and amplifies the traditional silhouette of Fude temples, signifying closeness to the Earth by visually connecting it to the sky, he added.
Chi Yen (紀彥), a Japan-based architect and a member of the first panel, said that the judges liked Akuta’s design because of its roof, which conveyed the message of bringing the divine to the faithful, and its expression of tolerance.
While Akuta’s concept is excellent, the other two finalists also presented highly practical designs that the Taichung City Government should recommend to other Fude temples that are considering to rebuild their compounds, Chi said.
Lin responded positively to Chi’s suggestion, saying that Fude temples are centers for worship and everyday activities, and that the city government would welcome attempts to design temples that would reflect the unique characteristics of their communities.
Due to zoning disputes, no winning entries from the association’s two previous competitions were actually built, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator and panelist Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said.
Plots that are zoned for religious purposes were obtained prior to last year’s competition and few legal obstacles stand in the way of executing the projects, which would create recreational public spaces and bring tourists to the city, he said.
Liu Kun-yung (劉坤湧), chairman of the temple’s managing committee, said that the committee is obligated by law to wait for the transfer of the plot to the Shuinan Trade Zone before it could start building the new compound, adding that the committee is raising NT$30 million (US$9.15 million) for the project.
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