Tracing The Influences of Beijing and Japanese Landscape Designs on Chen Chi-kwan's Serial Campus Planning Projects in Taiwan (1954-1984)

Abstract

The origin of Chen Chi-kwan's serial campus planning projects in Taiwan is an important yet underexplored issue. Architect Chen Chi-kwan may have gained his early experiences while working in the Architects' Collaborative (TAC) which was founded by Walter Gropius and famous for the designs of many modern campuses. Later on, Chen's collaboration with I.M. Pei in planning Tunghai University really gave him a great opportunity to explore the integrated relationship between nature and the built environments, which is distinctively different from the Western paradigms. Chen has ever expressed his interest in Beijing and Japanese gardens, and his Asian cultural background indeed played an important role in his design thinking. Spending his childhood in Beijing and then going abroad to study and work gifted Chen Chi-kwan the ability to innovatively integrate Western Modern and Chinese traditional ideas in his famous paintings and architectural designs. In his thinking, Western Modern concepts of Cubism, dynamics, flexibility, and organic growth may be coincident with Chinese Taoist philosophy, landscape designs, and other conventional paradigms, such as the configuration of the courtyards. In this circumstances, This research will scrutinize Chen Chi-kwan's serial university campus planning projects under the possible influences of east Asian landscape designs, especially Beijing and Japan. Selected examples include the campus of Tunghai University (1954-1965), National Central University (1968), Central Police University (1969-1977), National Chiao Tung University (1976), and Academy of Preparatory Programs for Overseas Chinese Students (NUPS, 1984).