Interview of Want Taiwan Cultural Environment Foundation (Part II)

Interview with Want Taiwan Cultural Environment Foundation Date: 2010. 11. 03 Interviewee: Architect, Mr. Zhi-Song Lin Interviewer: Shao-Hua Huang, Han- Fu Huang, Shih- Kai Hsu, Hao-Ping Li

Q1: What are the characteristics of the red building of Rixin? Why do we want to preserve it? (Shao-Hua) A1: From 1895 to 1945, during the Japanese colonial period, cities and buildings in Taiwan were immensely influenced by Japan. Our presidential building was built in 1919, where the architectural style was to use red bricks for buildings. Although the red building of Rixin was built around the same period of time, for it was a school rather than governmental buildings, there weren’t as many decorations on the building. The architectures of an era represent the actual social situation and witness the development of culture and history. Our red building is a century old. During this century, it gathered the joint memories of so many people and forged the traditions of our school. Thus, preserving the building is just like preserving our historical and cultural legacy. This is so meaningful to everyone of us. Also, there aren’t many red buildings of that time left now in Taipei. This adds to the importance of preserving the red building of Rixin.

Q2: Comparing with other famous red buildings in Taipei, what are the difference between them and our red building at Rixin? (Han- Fu) A2: These kind of red buildings in Taiwan are divided into five categories: governmental buildings, religious buildings, school buildings, civilian houses and hospitals. The style of most of the school buildings are simple but emphasize on the proportion, focusing on the delicacy of construction and the beauty of mechanics. The main characteristics of red building at Rixin lies in its structure. We see the beautiful arch and details. If you stand inside the building, you could feel the interaction between the sun lights and building itself.

Q3: What is the main concept of this renovation of red building? (Hao-Ping) A3: The basic attitude of renovating historical buildings is to restore its original appearance. Because part of the wall of this red building was torn down, also the roof was changed for fixing the leaking problem, our hope is to try to give back its original look during this renovation.

Q5: Did you encounter any difficulty during renovation? How did you solve it? (Shao-Hua) A5: One of the difficult part of this kind of renovation is that you don’t know what the inside is like until you tear down the outer pieces. Usually, when we get to see what it’s really like inside, it is quite different from what we expected. Because we didn’t have many historical documents at hand to help us, we would have to tear down a window or scratch down the cement on the wall in order to find out how it was built at that time. After that, it takes many meetings to determine what we are going to do for next step. This is the most difficult part.

Q6: Does Renovating the red building need any special material or method? (Han- Fu) A6: We basically use bricks to renovate the building. But because the building is old, the size and color are different from the bricks made at present time. So we need to remake similar ones for renovation.

Q7: What was the difference between modern constructing method and the method at that time? (Hao-Ping) A7: Nowadays, we seldom use bricks to build the house. Bricks are mostly use for decorating the surface of buildings, not for supporting the structures.

Q8: How do we incorporate modern needs to the original characters of the building? (Shao-Hua) A8: Most of the red buildings are used for classrooms, so we want to preserve that. When you walk on the hallways, you could feel the different angles of sun lights shining on you. That creates a wonderful atmosphere.

Q9: Is there any special thing that impresses you the most during renovation? (Shih- Kai) A9: This building has beautiful arches on the hallway. All the arches are connected with each other. This structure is quite rare for Taiwanese architectures.

Q10: What do you expect the red building to be like after the renovation is finished? (Shao-Hua) A10: After the renovation, it would accumulate lots of memories for me, and we could experience the atmosphere in the space and building. For Rixin Primary School, this is a very important cultural asset. I would love to see it continue creating memories with all the students.

Q11: Do you like being an architect? What are the capabilities needed for an architect to acquire? (Han- Fu) A11: It’s an interesting job to build a building and have it erected for a century. We try to understand the background of the architectures in each era and add new ideas and concepts into them. Through lots of hard work communicating with many different people, we build up a building from the sketch on paper into a building standing in front of you. That is an exciting process. The requirement for an architect is to learn to appreciate things, environment and art, also to acquire abundant knowledge.