taiwan has no architecture? (2): covered walkways

in the last installment of this series, i kvetched a bit about people who complain that taiwan has no architecture. in response, in this series of blog posts will look at what i call the architecture of making do–mostly the kind of vernacular architecture that one sees in the alleys of taipei and other urban areas on taiwan

however, i thought that i should begin with the most public and characteristic feature of taiwanese urban spaces, the architecture of covered pedestrian walkways 騎樓 cilou (also known as 亭仔腳 teng-a ka) found on major commercial thoroughfares Continue reading “taiwan has no architecture? (2): covered walkways”

taiwan “doesn’t have architecture?”

 

an architecture of making do

often when someone says something ignorant, i just want to let it go. after all, it’s really not my purpose in life to enlighten people, particularly so-called expats with colonialist attitudes

but this time, the ignorant remark about taiwan “having no architecture” stayed with me. for a couple weeks, this remark continued to annoy me, like a pebble in my shoe. i decided to shake it out and make some sort of reply–and well, as you all know, my research interests include vernacular domestic architecture

Continue reading “taiwan “doesn’t have architecture?””