Introduction: Athena of Architecture--Commemorating Architect Tes-Nan Hsiu, and Rethinking Women's Spatial Practice
Date : 2017-04-20
*This article is the introduction of the special issue: “Athena of Architecture: Commemorating Architect Tes-Nan Hsiu, and Rethinking Women's Spatial Practice” of Architectural Institute of Taiwan Magazine, issue no.86, Apr. 20th, 2017. Link to the original post
Architect Tes-Nan HSIU had passed away on Feb. 2016. To commemorate her achievements, Architectural Institute of Taiwan edits this special volume of 2017 spring. Through getting closer to her architecture, we expect to trace women's spatial practice for architectural education and profession in the postwar world. Furthermore, we tend to reflect
the obscure issues of the sexuality and spatiality. The content of this volume is constructing by three parts. First, we review that HSIU's architect's life and works. We link her time to the movements of postwar Taiwan society. As a historical approach of commemorating an architect, it helps readers to understand her architecture by tracing the developing history of postwar Taiwan. Following part is questioning and reflecting the matters of her-story. We try to connect the path of women architects in postwar Taiwan to the worldwide vision, in order to rethink women who are affected by the modernism have experienced which kind of complexity and contradiction from architectural education and professional practice. Final part is exploring the issue to the contemporary criticism on the sexuality and spatiality. We expect that the different view-points and opinions offered from scholars, women architects and research assistants to this special volume might open a thinking space for our readers.
Architect Tes-Nan HSIU had passed away on Feb. 2016. To commemorate her achievements, Architectural Institute of Taiwan edits this special volume of 2017 spring. Through getting closer to her architecture, we expect to trace women's spatial practice for architectural education and profession in the postwar world. Furthermore, we tend to reflect
the obscure issues of the sexuality and spatiality. The content of this volume is constructing by three parts. First, we review that HSIU's architect's life and works. We link her time to the movements of postwar Taiwan society. As a historical approach of commemorating an architect, it helps readers to understand her architecture by tracing the developing history of postwar Taiwan. Following part is questioning and reflecting the matters of her-story. We try to connect the path of women architects in postwar Taiwan to the worldwide vision, in order to rethink women who are affected by the modernism have experienced which kind of complexity and contradiction from architectural education and professional practice. Final part is exploring the issue to the contemporary criticism on the sexuality and spatiality. We expect that the different view-points and opinions offered from scholars, women architects and research assistants to this special volume might open a thinking space for our readers.