Mass Urban

“PRIZED DESIGN

Taiwanese architect receives top Curry Stone social design award.

Cliff Curry, co-founder of the Curry Stone Foundation, said that what impressed him about Hsieh Ying-Chin was the Taiwanese architect’s unwavering dedication to not just building but advancing prefabricated housing for disaster-stricken communities. “He took something and improved, improved, improved upon it until it was worked out,” said Curry of Hsieh’s steel-frame houses that more often than not become the permanent homes of residents, lasting long after the community has recovered from an earthquake or flood. “The design has scalability and also the potential to be exported to other parts of the world,” said Curry.

Hsieh received the grand prize in the foundation’s annual Curry Stone Design Prize (CSDP), now in its fourth year. The awards were announced on October 4 and will be formally bestowed on November 7; in addition to Hsieh, winners included Paris-based firm Atelier d’Architecture for fostering community through participation-based projects and software company FrontlineSMS and its founder Ken Banks for sustaining social movement efforts through simple communication media. The grand prize comes with a $100,000 cash prize, the two other prize-winners receive $10,000 each.

The prize recognized Hsieh for his ongoing role in rebuilding and developing new domestic architecture in rural areas of Taiwan and Asia devastated by natural disasters. An architect with a traditional practice until 1999, Hsieh changed gears when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake devastated central Taiwan, motivating him to lend his design knowledge to the problem of relief shelter. The CSDP jury noted for this and subsequent disaster events, Hsieh was able to use extremely limited budgets to rethink domestic structures as well as auxiliary facilities like sanitary composting toilets, positively impacted thousands of people. The jury also praised Hsieh for his work process, which includes educating locals about smart, sustainable construction, an approach that involves them in the rebuilding and also empowers them to continue to improve their own communities.”

Via: The Architect’s Newspaper

Photo: JIEDA COMMUNITY, TAITUNG, TAIWAN WITH BUILDINGS DESIGNED BY HSIEH YING-CHUN.