Public Lecture 2: Participatory Construction 參與式建構

Lecture Information

Date 20.3.2025

Time HKT 12:00 pm

Location Zone F, LSK Architecture Building, CUHK

Language Mandarin (with automatic English translation caption)

Setting aside the commercial function to satisfy bodily (especially visual) pleasure, architecture can have a more profound interaction with society. Now with over 25 years of practice, I will be discussing participatory construction in this talk — but is that enough to fulfil the architect’s dream and aspiration? Certainly not, so let’s go for something even more radical.

跳開商品化和滿足身體的愉悅(尤其是視覺), 建築可以跟社會有更深刻的互動, 今以超過25年的實作經驗來談參與式的建構, 這樣就可以滿足建築人的夢境嗎? 當然不夠, 那就來點更刺激的。

Speaker: Hsieh Ying-chun 謝英俊

Hsieh Ying-chun has dedicated to developing ecological houses, adhering to community-based cooperative construction and sustainable building principles. His approach integrates scientific methods with local social, cultural, and economic contexts, utilizing an open structural system and low-cost technologies. This allows residents to actively participate in modernizing their homes sustainably.

Hsieh explores concepts like ‘modern dwelling’ and ‘architecture without architects,’ engaging with ideas such as ‘Pattern Language’ and ‘Housing Industry 4.0.’ Over the past 30 years, he has expanded into material production and construction, successfully completing post-disaster reconstruction for over 2,800 households affected by various earthquakes in Taiwan and China, as well as projects in Nepal. His work earned him the UN-HABITAT Best Practice Award in 2004 and the Curry Stone Design Prize in 2011.

Respondent: Liu Zhen 劉振

The lead designer at the Shenzhen University Architectural Design Institute, joined the Hsieh Ying-chun Architectural Firm in 2006. In the post-disaster reconstruction of the Qingchuan area following the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, he was responsible for developing a prefabricated light steel assembly structure system. In 2024, he received the Architectural Design Award.