Our work in the post disaster reconstruction site is the most basic work, which is the forming of the community.
Hsieh Ying-Chun is a leading Taiwanese architect who for over a decade has deployed his talents in rural areas that have been decimated by natural disaster. Hsieh works throughout Asia, training villagers to build locally appropriate dwellings in response to the devastation of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the 1999 Nantou earthquake and the 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan. Through Hsieh's hands-on education process, villagers literally reconstruct their own community foundation, knowing they will live in buildings with greater safety, structural integrity, and sustainability.
In 1999, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Nantou County in rural Taiwan. The massive temblor destroyed more than 50,000 buildings, killed nearly 2,500 people, and threatened to dismantle the tribal home of Taiwan’s smallest aboriginal group, the Thao.
In many disaster scenarios, the technical and financial burden of reconstruction renders the affected community powerless, dependent on NGOs to deploy basic aid. But the Thao’s story is a tale of self-reliance and community empowerment, thanks to social design pioneer Hsieh Ying-Chun.
A native of Taiwan, Hsieh ran a conventional architecture practice in XinZhu from 1984 until 1999. When the quake decimated the countryside, he moved his firm out of the city to the affected site in Sun Moon Lake, and took a leading role in redefining rural design and construction, with community engagement as a guiding principle. It is where his studio, with about 20 dedicated staff, is based today.
Hsieh establishes a cooperative network of designers, local contractors, and residents that supports and sustains local needs. His simple designs ensure that every villager, from the youngest child to the eldest grandparent, can have a hand in building their own home.
On the construction site, Hsieh acts as a facilitator, teaching community members how to join lightweight steel or wood into stable framing elements. When the frames are built and inspected, dozens of people gather to erect the pieces, barn-raising style, using low-tech tools and collaboration to get the job done.
Hsieh’s flexible design prescribes only the fixed support features, leaving floor plans and aesthetic details to the residents’ discretion. In each new setting, native materials like straw, clay, and stone give a uniquely local identity to the buildings.
Renewable materials and community labor keep Hsieh’s costs extremely low—up to 50 percent below the development standard—which is key to the success and sustainability of his model. Hsieh structures his projects to employ villagers during agriculturally idle periods, to avoid farming cycles.
In the years since his first humanitarian efforts, Hsieh has demonstrated the scalability and adaptability of his designs in other parts of Asia. In 2008, he was called to central China, where nearly 70,000 people had been killed by the Sichuan earthquake, and the majority of buildings destroyed. He worked with villagers to construct 500 homes, as well as composting toilets, which address issues of sanitation and health while producing usable fertilizer for the community. Today Hsieh continues to travel where rural communities need him most, providing guidance and organizing cooperative teams that can function and thrive after his departure.
Hsieh Ying-Chun
