媒體報導:天下雜誌--當實踐遇上MIT(2009年1月號)

The order of dream in urban design-Environmental art projects in Dazhi community

1. The order of dream in urban design
-Environmental art projects in Dazhi community

Three orders of architecture
Charles Moore, a Californian architect once pointed out that there are three orders in the design of architecture. The three orders are: the order of space, the order of machine and the order of dream. The order of space is about the spatial arrangement of architecture. The order of machine is about the mechanical systems that make a building works.

When Charles Moore talked about the order of dream in architecture design, he was referring to the aspect that fascinated most of architecture designers when they engaged in design activities. It was about the aesthetics, the symbolism, the drama, the world of experience that a design is able to conjure up in one’s consciousness when all aspects of a design are placed in good order. The universe that a good design is able to open up in our consciousness is no difference from the experience of a good movie, a good poem or a good dream. Charles Moore aptly put this order of architecture as the order of dream because in good dreams, our souls or consciousness are free from the functionality of the physical world or the practicality of our daily life and is into a universe of symbolism and pleasant experiences that are meaningful to us.

There are endless ways to talk about art. The order of dream is referring to the state of mind that is being lifted from our mundane concern and into a holistic experience that has aesthetic and symbolic contents. The activity of the organization or orchestration of senses to create symbolism or meaning or aesthetic experiences in our consciousness is one good way to relate our design activity with “art”. In this line of thinking, we can also say that art is “in the order of dream”.

The order of dream in urban design
The three orders of architecture can also be applied to the practice of urban design. The order of space in urban design is what we as urban designer are most familiar with. This order involves arranging spaces large and small, in different shapes and forms to accommodate functions and activities within an urban site. It involves arranging spaces in certain order or sequence to orchestrate experiences.

The order of machine in urban design is also easy to understand. It is what we call infrastructure. It includes all the supportive technological systems that make the urban site in question functions. Some of the systems are not seen on urban surface, such as underground sewage system. Some are huge in scale, such as highways or transit systems that present themselves as part of the cityscape. Generally civil engineers deal with them. As we grow mature in professional practice, we will inevitably recognize the decisive nature of this order in the quality of urban design. But our concern here is about the order of dream.

The order of dream in urban design is about the dimension of the urban experience that constitute the way we perceive the city, the symbolic aspect of the city, the aesthetic aspect of the city. We learn about aesthetics in urban design, we learn about city beautification movement in urban history, we talk about amenity in urban design. But the order of dream is about the charm, the charisma, the ambiance of a city that is the essence of the identity, the soul of a city. The third order, the order of dream in urban design is what we will explore in the MIT-SCA Joint Studio this year. We will engage ourselves in this studio to create a new dimension which does not clearly exist, if not totally void in most of the city quarters in Taipei. The new dimension is,”the order of dream” in urban design.

Path to the order of dream- the three orders of Chinese landscape painting
What is the nature of the order of dream in urban design? How do we open up this order of dream, this world of symbolism or aesthetically meaningful experiences? In the history of Chinese landscape painting art, there is also a three order theory of organizing space in a landscape painting. A Chinese painter in Ming Dynasty pointed out that a good landscape painting should open up a world, a spatiality that includes also, three orders. The first order is where the body dwells. The second order is where the eyes gaze. And the third order is where the consciousness wanders.

The first order: Where the body dwells
Our body dwells in a concrete world with which we interact with our senses. It is the immediate surrounding within our physical reach; our immediate habitat or home range. Imagine yourself in a room or a bench in a park. The immediate surrounding where your hands can touch, where you can walk around and interact with your senses is “the first order”. When we draw a plan, we are inevitably dealing with the first order; where the body dwells. When you are in a car, the interior space of that car is the first order, where the body dwells.

The second order: Where the eyes gaze
The artist pointed out that beyond the immediate reach there is a world which is visually accessible to us. There is a world that exists in our consciousness which is constituted by the things we see. It is a world patched up by our visual experiences. The word ‘gaze’ is used for a special reason. We gaze with an intention. We visually browse through and beyond the world we dwell and find something meaningful, beautiful, ugly, appealing or threatening, etc. In such gazes, a visual world in our consciousness is constituted. Imagine yourself as a prisoner in a cell and there is a window with a view. The view, the “there” that can only be accessed visually is a world yonder, the meaning of which is constituted by the things we can see. Therefore, by arranging the things that we can see, we can organize a meaningful world in our consciousness.

The third order: Where the mind wanders
To create a universe in our consciousness within which the mind can wander is the ultimate concern of a Chinese landscape painter. Based upon the dwelled experiences and the gazed experience Chinese landscape painters can produce a two dimensional landscape that opens up a world of meaning and symbolism with profound aesthetic experience. It can be said that any art work, object design, architecture design or urban design with a good quality must be able to conjure up a world, a universe, or a spatial consciousness where our minds can wander in. In another word, we can open up a world, or conjure up a universe which is aesthetically meaningful through a good art object.

The order of dream, where the mind wanders and art
It is by now obvious that the endeavor of art is about entering into the order of dream, into a universe where the mind can wander. It is about creating a world of meaning, an aesthetic experience, an experiential field through the orchestrating and integrating the experience of the first order- where the body dwells and the second order- where the eyes gaze.

The public art
The concept of public art and the introduction of public art in the urban spaces have been part of the city of Taipei for more than 20 years. In the early stage, public art is understood as the placement of art objects, primarily sculptures in urban spaces. Since the law regulated that 1% of the public construction budget should go to public art, there have been cluttering of sculptures in certain city quarters. Intensive discussions about the significance of public art occur and two issues are raised, namely, the publicness or the community aspect of the art form, and the art form beyond sculpture.

The issue of publicness means that public art is more than placing an art object in public space. It means shared meanings, shared dreams, interactions and exchanges in deciding what to do about introducing a dimension of art into a community. It is about art in the community, that is, elevating the community into the order of shared dream through certain form of participatory process, or through a deep understanding of the collective nature of a community that can serve as the starting point of an art form that can inspire the members of the community.

The publicness of art is not difficult to understand. What happened in a traditional temple square and its surrounding, such as; the sculpture and decorative paintings on the temple architecture, the landscape design of the square, the religious ritual and drama performances happening in the square etc. are art forms that are public, shared and commonly understood. In the past, when people leave there mundane daily work and go to a temple, they enter into a world that is totally different from the practicality and functionality of subsistence. It is escape and elevation at the same time. The temple square and all the art forms in it produce a sense of festivity and Joy, spiritual and inspirational, with a dream like quality. This example of a temple square is the best example to illustrate the nature of public art and the nature of dream in art.

The Exercise
The third order, the order of dream in urban design is what we will explore in the joint studio of this year. What we will engage ourselves in this studio is to create a new dimension which does not clearly exist, if not totally void in most of Taipei’s city quarter, that is, “the order of dream” in urban design. The exercise is to give the community of Dazhi an order of dream. We will discuss the dimension of the urban experience that constitute the way we perceive this city quarter, the symbolic aspect and the aesthetic aspect of the city quarter that need to be discovered, enhanced or produced. We need to discuss about the charm, the charisma, the pleasant quality of the ambiance of this city quarter that is the essence of the identity, the soul of a city. We need to examine the order of where we dwell, the order of what we gaze and through certain engagements, we can create an order of dream, where our consciousness can wander.

The Crust of the Matter
There are three key issues that need to be emphasized to differentiate this exercise from the prevailing public art project in Taipei. They are the issue of contextual and publicness, the issue of the art form beyond sculpture and the issue of change inducing.

1. Contextual and publicness
We need to look into the context. The actions taken need to be public, it should be providing, inducing, evoking awareness and creating symbolism that are meaningful in a positive sense to the community.

We are to first examine the Dazhi community, this base where we dwell in. We need to know the people who live in this community and the activities that are carried on daily in this district. We need to understand the functionality of this district. The area and land use include a major river of the city, a large swath of commercial area with a shopping mall, residential quarters with small parks and primary schools, an major avenue with street side commercial activities, an about to finish metro line using the same corridor, and Shichien University with its Design School, a very significant fabric of this part of the city. And finally a hill serves as the perfect back drop of this urban quarter.

2. Creative and dynamic art forms
Other than the conventional static object art, we should explore all the possible media and forms of art on hands of the Design School and the MIT visitors. We should explore all kinds of possibilities and combinations. We should experiment with different senses, different scales, different orders, spatially or eventfully. What can be done is wide open. It can be a wide range of strategies except using drugs to produce hallucinations. Possible approaches are
1. Spatial strategies that intensify the dialogue between the School and the community
2. Events and spatial planning that transform the district into a platform or theater of arts
3. Visual strategies that arouse the awareness of the community of the potential of change into a theater of art.
4. landscape or environmental art approaches to give the community a strong sense of identity as an art center of Taipei

3. Yeast of change
The actions taken need to be dynamic or inducing change in the community now or in the future. The designs or events planned should have certain long term effect that will eventually bring about certain transformation as if we are introducing a yeast of change to the city. Maybe the Design School of Shi-Chien University should serve as the yeast of change to this community.
The Design School of Shi-Chien University is located in Da-zhi District. The school has four departments; architecture, industrial design, media and costume design. It has an extremely active and excellent design faculty and students that is rated as the top best 50 design schools in the world. The Design School of Shi-Chien should become the yeast that causes the change of the district into a theater spatially, in events, in daily activities. The activities of the Design School should spill out into the community and the community should also become sources of inspiration for creativity in school. The School of Design can be the agent of change through its leadership and participation in public arts.

Instead of the general practice of introducing public art in the area, we should view the Dazhi District as a platform, a theater for all kinds of artistic activities and artists and the residents. By introducing the order of dream into Dazhi we might hopefully transform this community into a much charming, charismatic, joyful, inspiring place than just a functional and not so special residential quarter.

Proposal for 2009 Taipei International Workshop

Organizers：
The School of Architecture and Planning, MIT
College of Design, Shih Chien University

Participants：
Massachusetts Institute of Technology：
Architecture Department
Media Laboratory
Shih Chien University：
Department of Architecture Design
Department of Industrial Design
Department of Communications Design
Institute of Fashion and Communications Design

Proposed Exercise Topic：
【 The order of dream in urban design - Environmental art projects in Da-zhi community 】

Proposed Workshop Date and Duration：
01/05/2009-01/18/2009, for 14 days

Location：
Shih Chien University, Taipei,Taiwan

Workshop Planners at Shih Chien-Praxis University：
Ann, Yu-chien Dean,College of Design, Shih Chien University
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture Design, Shih Chien University
M.Arch.,University of Pennsylvania

Lin, Sheng-fong Associate Professor, Department of Architecture Design , Shih Chien University
Former Minister of State, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

參考資料：SCU+MIT工作營「汐止市鎮景觀再造」企劃案

Shih Chien University & MIT School of Architecture and Planning
2009 International Workshop
Retrofitting Central Xizhi for Livability
Organizers：
The School of Architecture and Planning, MIT
College of Design, Shih Chien University

Participants：
Massachusetts Institute of Technology：
Architecture Department
Media Laboratory
Shih Chien-Praxis University：
Graduate School of Architecture Design
Graduate School of Industrial Design
Graduate School of Fasion and Communications Design

Proposed Exercise Topic：
「Retrofitting Central Xizhi for Livability」

Proposed Workshop Date and Duration：
Spring 2008,for 14 days

Location：
Shih Chien-Praxis University, Taipei, Taiwan

Workshop Planners at Shih Chien-Praxis University：
Ann, yu-chien
Dean, College of Design, Shih Chien-Praxis University
Associate Professor, Architecture Department, Shih Chien-Praxis University
M.Arch., University of Pennsylvania
Lin, sheng-fong
Associate Professor, Architecture Department, Shih Chien-Praxis University
Former Minister of State, Taiwan R.O.C.
Ph.D.,University of California,Berkeley
Retrofitting Central Xizhi for Livability
Taiwan’s bubble economy during the 60’s and 70’s produced many high-density pockets in the outlying areas of Taipei, the capital. However, today, with the rise in living standards and awareness for quality, more and more people are beginning to feel the negative consequences resulting from these overnight developments. There is an urgent demand for upgrading the urban quality of these regions. However, the sheer density of these urban concrete mazes, and the high costs of lands and buildings make large-scale restructuring extremely difficult. So, the question is: How can we retrofit much needed open spaces and public facilities into these highly saturated developments and turn them into livable places?

Central Xizhi: The case in point
Xizhi, located in Taipei County, ten km east of Taipei, is one of the satellite cities just outside the capital. Due to its proximity, easy access, and relatively lower land price, it started to evolve in the 70’s to become a commuter town to Taipei. Real estate speculation and adventurism rushed in to meet the increase in demand for housing. Uncontrolled growth lasted about ten years; and the speed with which it sprawled outpaced any attempts at proper city planning. Thus today, the central part of Xizhi manifests all the symptoms of a town left alone to grow at the speed of greed on the one hand, and economic necessity on the other. Devoid of charm and character, the area’s identity is defined mainly by its undesirable qualities, to wit: a lack of pedestrian accessibility and urban amenities; and public facilities that are minimal in number and function, under-equipped, and in badly chosen locations. Uncontrolled development has left several historical layers of urban fabric randomly overlapping one another. Adding to the chaos of the area is the oppressive presence of through-traffic corridors that brutally sever the area into several disconnected urban fragments and upset the residents’ daily functions.

In short, Central Xizhi is an area devoid of that necessary quality called ‘livability.’ Built to high density with little open space, and with high land prices, central Xizhi has passed the point of no return, making large scale land adjustment practically impossible. What can we do to make this commuter town livable without massive land adjustment or urban renewal?


Introduction to Central Xizhi
Central Xizhi is an area of 4km x 2km, with a population of forty thousand. The following are some key features of this area.

1. Landscape：
Keelung River defines the area’s northern boundary and hills its southern boundary. Having been lowly evaluated in the past for their real estate value, both of these natural landscape features remain largely intact, and are available as a spatial or visual amenity. The river used to be the cause of flooding but the threat was neutralized (only) recently. However, this solution has had the unfortunate effect of turning the flood control devices into barriers that prevent people from getting close to the river. The hills, although a park-like space to the locals, are not easily accessible visually or physically.

2. Older part of the city：
The train station and its vicinity, together with the old street, constitute the old quarter of central Xizhi. The old street, a market street of pedestrian scale still serves the daily function of the older quarter of the area. Although the scale of this part of the city was built for the convenience of pedestrians, there is no pedestrian-priority space or traffic planning. Moreover, the older urban fabric has not been preserved, having been randomly punctured by new development.

3. Residential quarters and high-rise housing clusters：
Of the five residential quarters in the area, two are composed of high-rise clusters. The dominant housing types are the three-, four- and seven-story row houses. In these row houses, if located along a major street, the ground floor is reserved for shops. The high-rise clusters contain condominiums, which, as recent additions to the existing housing stock in the area, have come into being in order to meet the growing demand for housing within the Taipei metropolitan area.
(Residential quarters and high rise housing clusters)

4. Corridors of through-traffic：
The area is severed by three traffic corridors from north to south, namely: the Datong road by-pass, the railroad, and the Xintaiwu express way. The Tairail Company has recently elevated the railroad, thus making it transversable. But these three traffic corridors, taken as a whole, must still be seen as obstacles that impede the optimum flow of slower traffic and thereby downgrade the quality of livability of this area.

5. Public facilities：
The city hall, two primary schools, one middle school, one high school, the old street,
one train station, some poorly planned parks, and one night market: these Public Facilities remain unpleasant to access on foot, and difficult by car, due to a lack of sidewalks and parking lots, respectively. Given the situation, the motorcycle or the scooter remains the most convenient means of access.
(Traffic corridors cutting through the area)

We conclude that the poor grade of livability in central Xizhi is caused by four eminent problems:

1. The three traffic corridors: they have the negative effect of partitioning the city into disconnected sub-areas, and making the unavoidable passing across these barriers life-threatening.
2. Lack of pedestrian-prioritized planning: major traffic corridors and local roads are all pedestrian-unfriendly.
3. Substandard quality of public facilities: they are minimum in number and function, poorly planned, poorly located, and difficult to access.
4. Neglect of the potential of the river and the hills as amenities and open spaces.
The Vision and the Retrofitting Strategy
The Vision: A livable Xizhi, free of disconnection-causing traffic corridors, with well-planned, well-situated public facilities that are accessible to all by walking or bicycle. A green Xizhi, with easy access to the nearby river and hills, with a network of open-spaces that lace the city.
The Strategy: With minimum land adjustment or acquisition, the retrofitting strategies might include:

1. Pedestrian layer：
This layer, functioning as a network, would include
1. Bridges and skywalks placed over major or minor roads where necessary as well as over the residential quarters, in order to connect to the hills across the river.
2. Pedestrian-priority zones in which roads would be placed underground and/or traffic limited.
3. Open spaces which would include the riverside, hills, parks, school yards, open spaces of public and major commercial facilities, and
4. Side walks.

Skywalks and bridges should be considered as urban spaces, and treated as such, rather than merely transitional spaces, so as to vitalize the spatial barrenness of this area. The possibilities for activating the roof spaces – by way of sky lobbies, squares and gardens – of public and commercial buildings and condominium should be integrated into the pedestrian system. The system should accommodate bicycles as well.

2. Physical communication layer：
This layer would include the public and private signage systems; the color scheme planning of the public domain; the design of functional and user-friendly street furniture. Given the large number of children in this area, as evidenced by the increase in primary school enrollment, special attention must be given to the needs of children in terms of space, signage and street furniture design.

3. Information layer：
There should be a trial-run to introduce information- and media-technologies to facilitate and enrich the urban function of this area. We navigate through an environment by reading sign boards, building types and the activities in and around them. But often some of the urban public functions, or even some commercial functions are debilitatingly opaque. When the information needed of daily function is properly transparent, it makes the environment more user-friendly and convenient. There are abundant media and information technologies available in Taiwan, and the area’s close proximity to the Information Science Park of Taiwan makes it an ideal candidate to serve as a showcase for the integration of information- and media-technology with urban design.

4. Ecological layer：
The ecological barrenness of this area is due solely to administrative negligence, not lack of potentials. There is a river to the north and hills to the south of the area. Within the area, there are some parks, school campuses, etc. There should be more efforts to connect these green areas. By combining tree-planting programs for the streets, pocket parks, open spaces, and vegetations for sky lobbies, roof gardens, sky walks etc., we can create a web of ecological corridors in this area.

In search of a model solution
Central Xizhi, a by-product of a bubble economy, is an urban problem begging for a solution. The “Xizhi Syndrome” can be found commonly in many Asian cities where high-density, uncontrolled development and exorbitant land prices make it impossible for large-scale urban restructuring. (China is the exception. There, massive clearing is still possible). “Retrofitting” three-dimensionally into the existing urban fabric layers of spaces and functions, and reconnecting fragmented urban sub-areas with pedestrian accessibilities and communication technologies is one possible solution. The four layers introduced into the fragmented central Xizhi would not require massive acquisition of lands or clearing of buildings. Implementation of this proposal could make central Xizhi a livable and connected community. If retrofitting by layers should prove possible in Xizhi, it could set an example worth emulating throughout Taiwan as well as in other parts of the world where poorly planned, under-equipped, pedestrian-unfriendly developments have unnecessarily degraded the quality of urban life.













( Location fo the Central Xizhi; and Shih Chien-Praxis University, Taipei.)

捌、 後續推廣規劃

一、 簽締雙方合作之備忘錄並締結姊妹校，提供未來學術交流、國際交換學生策略訂定之依據。
二、 提供國內相關設計系所畢業生升學、進修管道。
三、 促進雙方師資、學生作品交流，邀請國外優秀師資來台任教講學，建立雙方友好互動之合作模式。

柒、 預期效益

一、 與國際性設計學校與業界知名設計機構相互觀摩與學術交流，提升整體教學品質，建立跨學域合作與意見溝通之平台。
二、 透過實務製作、發表、交流與觀摩，拓展師生之國際視野，刺激教學研究、設計創作之質與量的提升。
三、 參與國際設計工作營之舉辦與系列專題講座，深化多元議題之學術研究根基。
四、 藉由專書出版、網站與多媒體視聽資料庫建置工作，整合教學資源並強化數位教學資料庫之設置。
五、 透過本計畫及相關研習活動之參與，結合設計專業領域之理論研究及實務，落實設計教育在地參與及社會服務之目標。

陸、 活動評量與檢討

本計畫於開始執行前一學期即已成立專案規劃小組，成員除計畫主持人外，亦邀集實踐大學設計學院相關系所主管、建築景觀設計、工業設計、數位媒體傳達設計師資，以及業界相關專業領域人才（含高階主管），於召開籌備會議時針對活動規劃內容給予專業意見，並訂定工作營「教師與學生手冊」（中英文版）以供參與之師生作為活動學習與評量之依據。

一、教師—對參與學生給予評量
為期14天之密集式課程將分組進行專題研討與實作，除帶隊之教師外，亦將安排一至二位助理教師，協助組員（學生）之出、缺勤紀錄、學習態度與能力進行綜合評量，作為工作營結束評圖與成果報告(Final Presentation)評分之參考依據。

二、學生—給予意見與建議
於工作營結束前，發放學生意見與自評調查表，針對課程規劃設計、師資安排、活動日程等項目採以不記名方式給予建議，由計畫主持人彙整作為下次舉辦相關活動師資邀請與活動規劃之參考。

三、活動成果展示與資料建檔
1. 於計畫開始後每個月召開會議針對資料蒐集、內容與執行進度進行規劃，確認成果報告格式與製作進度表，確認承辦人員工作業務分配。
2. 將於實踐大學設計學院網站（http://www.scdesign.usc.edu.tw/）設置專區，提供網路問卷、自評表、活動日程表下載，公布學生甄選結果與工作營計畫緣起、宗旨、師資、需預讀之相關文獻等資訊，並設置留言版功能，提供參與之師生資料檢索與查詢之用。
3. 本活動結束後會將工作營師生之研究成果集結成冊（專刊），提供各相關單位及與社會人士作為後續研究與舉辦活動計畫之參考。