Lian yi-ting and Chang Ting-ting, two seniors of the Architecture and Building Technology Department, won a Very Good Work prize for their drawing entitled: “Density, People, and Lungs” in the category of “students” at the 2006 Taipei Architects Association Contest. They were awarded with NT$ 20,000 prize money.

The design is based on the community they have witnessed in and around Yuan Kang Street which is near TKU Taipei Campus. According to Lian, Yuan Kang is filled with residential houses and commercial buildings forming an extremely busy street life and high density of people as well as houses. Therefore, their challenge, Lian said, when resolving the density issue was to create space at unusual places. For instance, the roof-tops of many two-storey Japanese styled houses that are quite common in this region are piled up with garbage, so they thought of replacing it with plants and flowers, creating a garden environment where people can go up to relax. Through such a redesign, more space will be created not only for recreation, but also for a greener and cleaner environment. Their supervisor, Prof. Lu Hsian Fu of the Department of Information and Communication, agrees with this forward-looking and environmental friendly design. He praises them for their open-mindedness and creativity. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )