National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan

In 2016, MArch students of our School’s Design Methodology and Practice design research unit investigated the Hsinchu City Prison complex in a collaborative design studio with the Graduate Institute of Architecture (GIA) of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan. Led by Prof. Patrick Hwang, the joint studio aimed to develop ideas to transform the Japanese colonial remnant in the face of redevelopment, providing a research-design platform for advancing the knowledge and public awareness of adaptive reuse in architecture.

It included two study trips to Taiwan: the introductory tour in January visited city agencies, places of culture, site of investigation and NCTU for academic exchange, where the students conducted site research in Hsinchu for their design proposals of a public archives building; the second trip in May featured a joint presentation and exhibition in Hsinchu, in which the city mayor Lin Chih-chien and a number of government officials attended and gave feedback. A publication documenting the entire process of design intervention was produced out of this collaborative studio.