Architect Hsieh Ying Chun

Hsieh devotes himself to post-disaster reconstruction for more than 17 years. He considers architecture and town-planning a collective endeavour and participatory effort. His projects often originating from the need to provide a prompt response to sudden and unexpected environmental or climatic emergencies focus on principles such as biocompatibility, sustainability and self-sufficiency.

Following the massive earthquake in Taiwan on September 21, 1999, Hsieh took his office to disaster area in Nantou County, to begin reconstruction efforts there. Guided by the simple tools and environmentally-friendly materials in Thao tribe reconstruction, Hsieh and his collaborators were able to complete reconstruction within extremely tight economic parameters. In 2004, Hsieh traveled to rural areas of Hebei, Henan, and Anhui to promote cooperative, sustainable building in the countryside to demonstrate a novel and effective integration of rural social and economic conditions. In the wake of the devastating May 12, 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, Hsieh and members of his Rural Architecture Studio aided in reconstructing homes for disaster victims in isolated mountain areas, beginning with the erection of more than 500 model homes. When the August 2009 typhoon ravaged Taiwan’s mountainous and riparian areas inhabited by indigenous minorities. Hsieh was entrusted by a number of charitable organizations with the task of rebuilding longstanding tribal buildings and to work toward permanent housing arrangements. Hsieh and his team rebuilt a total of 1000 homes for members of 13 different tribal groups. In 2010, he also completed work on settlements for Tibetan herders, among other projects. 

 He was awarded the Curry Stone Design Prize in 2011, the Golden Prize of the Shenzhen Affordable Housing Design Competition (China) and the 16th National Awards for Arts (Taiwan) in 2012. He was shortlisted for UN-HABITAT's Best Practice award in 2004, and represented Taiwan at the Venice Biennale International Architecture and International Art Exhibitions in 2006 and 2009 respectively. He also took part in Liverpool Biennale 2012.