At an age when the vast majority of professionals have long retired, architect Cheng Mei (陳邁) remains deeply committed to his work. Every weekday, the 85-year-old heads to the Taipei offices of Fei & Cheng Associates, the firm he founded with university classmate Philip Fei (費宗澄) in 1975, to advise his staff on their latest projects. The sprightly octogenarian also regularly gives lectures at local universities, participates in conferences and seminars, and serves as a judge at architectural competitions. “Architecture is a challenging yet very interesting and creative field,” he says. “It requires you to continuously learn new skills and embrace fresh perspectives, and that’s what keeps me passionate about my work.”
Cheng is one of Taiwan’s most celebrated and influential architects. To date, his firm has completed more than 300 projects, ranging from hospitals, museums, schools and shopping malls to all manner of industrial and residential buildings. Last year, he was presented with the National Award for Arts, the nation’s most prestigious honor for artistic and cultural achievement, in recognition of his remarkable five-decade career. According to the selection committee from the National Culture and Arts Foundation, the organization responsible for awarding the prize, “Cheng deserves credit for the aesthetic value of his works as well as his longstanding efforts to foster greater interactions between the architectural community and society. The high standards of ethics and professional conduct that he has maintained set an excellent example for all practitioners in the field.”
Chang Shu (張樞), an architect and member of last year’s selection committee, notes that Cheng is widely respected by his peers not simply for the exceptional quality of his designs, but for his willingness to share his knowledge and experience and for his strong sense of social justice. “He has focused considerable time and energy on improving the environment for architects,” Chang stresses. “This has helped make him a legendary figure in local architectural circles.”
Born in Shanghai, mainland China, Cheng moved to Taiwan at the age of 19 in 1949. He graduated with a degree in architecture from National Cheng Kung University in the southern city of Tainan in 1961. He then studied and worked in Switzerland before earning a master’s degree in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. In 1971, he was invited by acclaimed architect and educator Han Pao-teh (漢寶德, 1934–2014) to teach at Tunghai University in Taichung, central Taiwan, and in the years since he has lectured at several other local academic institutions.
The Taiwan High Speed Rail station in the southern city of Tainan was designed by Fei & Cheng Associates. (Photo courtesy of Fei & Cheng Associates)
In recent decades, Cheng has become heavily involved in efforts to reform the education, examination and licensing systems for architects as well as the procedures used to award public works contracts. His desire to effect change in the local architectural system was in large part influenced by his experiences in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that devastated central Taiwan on September 21, 1999. Following the disaster, the Ministry of Education commissioned the Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) under the Ministry of the Interior to organize an open tender process for school reconstruction projects, and Cheng was invited to help evaluate the submissions. “Many gifted architects were passionate about participating in those school rebuilding programs, but a significant number of them dropped out due to the government’s policy of awarding contracts to the lowest bidders,” he recalls. “It’s unrealistic to expect the cheapest price to yield the best product. Indeed, this system leads to poor quality public works.”
Cheng and a number of other architects established the New Campus Movement in 2000 with the aim of identifying administrative barriers and regulatory problems involving public tenders and fostering government-industry communication. The group’s primary objective was to convince the CPA to consider factors such as the track record of architectural firms in addition to price when awarding public works contracts. After consultations with the group, the CPA adopted this proposal in 2001, leading to the construction of many innovative school buildings in central Taiwan.
In 2007, Cheng and members of the New Campus Movement formed the Organization of Architecture Reformation (OAR) in order to expand their efforts. The group now uses lectures, lobbying, press conferences, seminars and workshops to highlight the problems that are hindering architectural progress in Taiwan and to seek improvements in these areas.
Architect Leu Chin-wen (呂欽文), an active participant in the New Campus Movement in the early 2000s and current president of the OAR, says that the culture in the architectural profession tends to emphasize individualism, and it took Cheng’s drive and leadership to convince practitioners to work together in pursuit of reforms. “There had been a lot of complaints about the manner in which public works contracts were awarded with regards to administrative and decision-making processes and the unclear and unfair distribution of rights and obligations between architects and construction companies,” Leu notes. “However, were it not for Cheng, things would have remained largely unchanged.”
Zengwen Youth Activity Center, located in a scenic area near Zengwen Reservoir in Tainan, has strategically placed balconies that offer stunning views of the area. (Photo courtesy of Fei & Cheng Associates)
Throughout his career, Cheng has been noted for his modesty and willingness to assist others. Despite his obvious talents, he has shown little interest in becoming a “starchitect,” preferring instead to empower his employees. Under his leadership, Fei & Cheng Associates has completed numerous projects that display both creativity and technical sophistication, notes Leu, who cites Nankang Software Park Phase II in Taipei City and the Taiwan High Speed Rail stations in Chiayi County and Tainan City in southern Taiwan as excellent examples of the firm’s work. “These buildings are designed with both aesthetics and utility in mind,” Leu says.
Chang, meanwhile, notes that Cheng’s buildings exist in harmony with their surroundings, and create a meaningful relationship between the interior space and exterior environment. He is particularly impressed by one of the architect’s early projects, Zengwen Youth Activity Center, which was built in 1976 in a scenic area near Zengwen Reservoir in Tainan. The facility, Chang explains, is a multi-tiered white structure with strategically placed protruding balconies that allow for stunning views of the natural beauty outside while enabling light to flow into the building. “This design was eye-opening and inspiring in the 1970s, a time when most structures in Taiwan were box-shaped,” he says.
David Tseng (曾成德), a professor in the Graduate Institute of Architecture at National Chiao Tung University in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City, remarks that Cheng’s structures often emphasize the building methods and materials used in their construction. Prominent examples of this, he notes, include Zhulu, a bamboo guesthouse finished in 1973 in the Xitou Nature Education Area in central Taiwan’s Nantou County, as well as the National Museum of Natural Science, which was completed in 1993 in Taichung City. “His works employ building techniques and materials that meet the needs of his clients, while also raising construction to an art form,” the professor says.
In discussing his views on the discipline, Cheng says architecture is a type of visual expression like sculpture, but it is not a pure art form. “A building can showcase an idiosyncratic style, yet fundamentally its design must be based on rational thought,” he says. “In addition to incorporating aesthetics and functionality, the design of a structure needs to take into account the limitations imposed by cost, engineering, regulations and public safety issues as well as how the project will fit into its setting.”
Cheng’s firm has completed numerous technically sophisticated projects, such as the Nankang Software Park Phase II building in Taipei City. (Photo courtesy of Fei & Cheng Associates)
Over the years, Cheng has sought to strengthen the role that innovation plays in the architectural profession in Taiwan, and has actively encouraged local universities to place design-based courses at the core of their curricula. He and other OAR members have also successfully lobbied the government to revamp Taiwan’s architect licensure examination so that it emphasizes practical experience over rote memorization of processes, regulations and theories. Last year, the Ministry of Examination decided to divide the licensure exam into two phases. Under this new process, which will apply to students who enroll in university architecture programs from 2016, candidates will be required to gain two years of practical experience after passing the first portion of the exam. Only then will they be allowed to sit the second phase of the test.
In recent decades, there has been a continuous increase in the number of large-scale building projects in Taiwan that necessitate complex engineering solutions and the integration of different skills, Cheng notes. “For these reasons, I can’t say how many works I’ve completed as they are team efforts rather than personal accomplishments,” he stresses. The veteran architect’s humility and unselfish dedication to helping develop the local architectural environment have earned him widespread recognition and respect. Yet despite his immense impact on the profession in Taiwan, Cheng remains committed to giving back to society. “Since winning the National Award for Arts, I feel an even greater sense of responsibility to help my peers,” he says. “It’s my sincere hope that the improvements we’ve made through our reform efforts will reignite the professional passions of numerous other architects.”
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw