“If doctors can treat patients pro-bono, of course architects can build houses for free,” said architect Chien Chih-ming (簡志明), who believes that architects should pay attention to disadvantaged areas in the country. “Let’s go build houses for Aboriginal children in the mountains of Nantou County.”
At Chien’s urging, a group of young people with backgrounds in architectural design collected their tools earlier this month and went to the mountains to rebuild classrooms in the community school at a Bunun Aboriginal village with locals. Although the task wasn’t easy and funding it was a problem, the group of young architects said they would continue as long as Aboriginal communities needed it.
Chien came up with the idea of building houses for Aboriginal communities pro bono when a colleague at an elementary school in Hsinyi Township (信義), Nantou County, told him that classrooms at the community school in the village were damaged by a typhoon and that the villagers could not afford to reconstruct them.
PHOTO: CHEN HSIN-JEN, TAIPEI TIMES
After hearing of the school’s problems, Chien gathered 30 students from National Taipei University of Technology, National Chengkung University and National Chiaotung University to start a reconstruction project in the village.
They used computer graphics to design and analyze the structure of traditional bamboo houses and discussed details with local villagers and elementary students.
They also fused together modern architectural technology with traditional Bunun building styles.
The reconstruction project is scheduled to be completed next Monday, with an inauguration ceremony to be held the following day. Chien said that classrooms at the community school would be used for teaching Bunun children traditional handicrafts such as cloth-weaving, bamboo-weaving and wood-carving.
Following Bunun tradition, the classrooms are built with bamboo and covered with a transparent material.
Because Chien found that local elementary students were talented at drawing, he asked the children to paint decorations on the classrooms’ exteriors.
The volunteer architects get up every morning at 6am to work at the construction site, then meet at night to review what went right and what went wrong during the day, as well as learn bamboo-weaving from experienced Bunun elders.
The college students said they were not bothered by sleeping on the ground and eating boxed meals, although they were constantly harassed by mosquitoes at night.
“I’m not interested in making money, I like more challenging jobs,” Chien said. “If doctors can save people with their knowledge in medicine, why can’t we do the same with architecture?”
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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