taiwannews culture sunday, july 5, 200912&13 …homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~borao/2profesores/royal...

was inaugurated in 1936 and nolonger retains its neo-Romanesquefeatures; but, on the other hand, itsclassroom number 9 on the secondfloor is unique preserving a strongtaste of the old times.

The Main Gate

The historicist-eclectic period ofNTU campus ended abruptly in 1931with the construction of the maingate ( ), made under theinfluence of the architectonicalmodern trends, being one of themthe Bauhaus. This style of functionalaesthetics started in Germany in1919 after Gropius, and it wascharacterized by the absence ofornamentation and simplification ofthe façades. In 1930 Ludwig Miesvan der Rohe became the newdirector of the Bauhaus, and hetransferred the school to Berlin in1932, but it was closed down by theNazis one year later. Nevertheless,Bauhaus ideas had already spreadto the whole world. That year, andafter a famous exhibition in NewYork, all these modern trendsmaturing along the previous decadeconverged in the so-called“International Style”, whoseprinciples were: to give importanceto the expressiveness of whatarchitects call the building volume,and to combine those volumes in abalanced way, not necessarilyrelying on the symmetry, and themost obvious, to eliminate theapplied ornament or molding.

In some places the “InternationalStyle” produced buildings withnautical allusions, consisting of an

elongated and predominantlyhorizontal volume with a semi-circular end. This applies to theNTU Main Gate, whose ship shapehad been always stressed; first, bythe mast holding the flag of theuniversity, and especially by thesmall two gardens at its front andback, the first manifesting the formof water in contact with the prow ofa ship, and the second resemblingthe wake that that ship leavesbehind. Finally, a third elementshowing the maritime connection isthe series of lighthouses along therailings that clearly manifest thatthe small boat is leaving the port.This simple but important buildingfor the history of architecture inTaiwan meets all the characteristicof modernity: no moldings,geometrical design, functionalityand horizontality, especially in thewindows that resemble the“commander’s deck” of a ship.

We must end this part sayingthat all these representativebuildings were made during themandate of the first President ofTaihoku University, HiroshiShidehara ( ), who stayed inoffice since March 1928 toSeptember 1937. On the other hand,in the last fifteen years of Japanesecolonialism no main buildings weremade in the Palm Boulevard.

The early Guomindang era

The most interesting, althoughstrange, construction during theearly years of the early Guomindangdominance was the Garden ofPresident Fu Sinian ( , 1896-1950). He was the fourth presidentafter the Nationalists took overTaiwan, and he only governed theinstitution in one year. Why did theschool build a memorial garden inhis honor, and also named the bell(the Fu zhong) after him? This bellstill chimes to signal the start andend of classes and is located on topof the logo of the university. Theremust be several reasons behind this.First of all, he was a great scholarwho belonged to the so-called May4th Movement and had acted asdeputy president of BeijingUniversity. Second, he died while hewas acting President of NTU, notduring his retirement. Also he was aresearch scholar at the Institute ofHistory and Language at AcademiaSinica, an institution that named its

main Library of Humanities after Fu.And, finally he reformed theuniversity’s standards for hiring inorder to find qualified teachers andestablished regulations foremployment and promotion, greatlyraising the quality of collegeteachers.

The Fu garden is a surprisingcombination of Western classicalcultural emblems: a Greek tetractileexent temple, and Egyptian obelisk,and a Baroque fountain, in thecenter of four driveways pointing tothe four cardinal points, asresembling the four rivers ofParadise; and everything in themiddle of an almost equilateraltriangle. What is the explanation forsuch displaced structure? I do notknow if there is one, although Ihave tried with my students to lookfor it. If any, it should be found inthe direction of the obelisk’s shadowover the temple, pointing out—as itwas customary in the Renaissance tosome particular day in the life ofpresident Fu.

Finally, I must say that the newbuildings constructed one decadelater also followed the evolution ofthose modern rationalist concepts.One of the directions that took thenew architecture was the “majesticgrandeur” style shown in 1937during the International Expo ofParis by the Soviet architect BorisM. Iofan who competed with Naziarchitect Albert Speer in the“magnificence” of their respectivepavilions. They defined, forexample, a scaled vertical façadethat can be easily recognized on thenew building of the College ofEngineering (1955, ), nowthe Dept. of Civil Engineering, andon the building of the Dept. ofForestry and Resource Conservation(1957, ). Also, thosebuildings present a “curtain façade”,with horizontal continuing windows,very different from the neo-Romanesque vertical ones.

I hope that this “trip to the past”have served to offer some clues tobetter understand those Taiwanhistorical relics, and to encouragethe readers to visit the Gallery ofUniversity History where hundredsof pictures are displayed evokingthose precious times.

Photos, Map & TextBy José Eugenio Borao

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In the almost twenty years that Ihave been moving around the NTUmain campus I have witnessedmany changes, especially in the lastdecade, showing that this area islike an evolving organism adaptingitself to modern times. Maybe themost significant landmarksestablished in recent years havebeen the new Library and the newSports Center. But the unique part ofNTU that still captures the essenceof the whole campus, the placewhere graduating students go tohave their pictures taken can not beother than the old area around theRoyal Palm Boulevard. This is themain artery of the university, whichfollows an East-West orientation,and where you can receive a lessonon modern architecture if you walkalong with your five senses on alert.

The Administration Building

The heart of that artery is theoldest building on campus theAdministration Building. If you enterthere the first office you will find isthe Visitor’s Center, whosemanaging director, Mr. SunghanYang ( ), provided me somerelevant information for this article.The building is square-shaped, witha nice inner yard, but originally onlythe main façade was in existence.This was also the administrationbuilding of the earlier HighProfessional School for Agricultureand Forestry ( ) foundedin 1926, two years before theestablishment of Taihoku University( ) in 1928.

The façade of the AdministrationBuilding though simple is quiteunique in Taiwan, as nothing similarcan be seen in other places. Itfollows the eclectic-historicist stylecommon in Europe at the end of the19th century, when different styleswere combined. The most visiblepart are the two pairs of Corinthiancolumns escorted by Romandecorative items. That is why somepeople labeled the building as neo-Renaissance. But, in my opinion, itis closer to Mannerism, a kind ofRenaissance whose forms are usedin an extravagant way. For example,

the entrance forms a gallery, withwindows that open out just to theCorinthian columns, blocking anypossible view. Also the whole façadealternates vertical columns, redbrick spaces and windows, goingagainst the architectural principlesof a Renaissance palace, which aredivided into three clear horizontalfloors. In any case, we are in front ofa very serene façade that hosts inthe center of its second floor theUniversity President’s office.

The neo-Romanesque buildings

The first buildings made forTaihoku University followed thehistoricist decorative pattern of theneo-Romanesque style, mainlycharacterized by Lombarddecorative motives, recognizable inthe continuous small false archeson top of the walls near the roof.These buildings were made underthe aegis of the architect Ite Kaoru( ). This architect graduatedfrom Tokyo Imperial University in1906, arrived in Taiwan four yearslater, and worked as assistant ofMoriyama Matsu ( ), thearchitect of the Presidential Palace.

The College of Liberal Arts

The first structure built was theCollege of Liberal Arts, which wasformally inaugurated on 14 April1929, although we can see earlypictures showing its long façadealready finished. This means that afew years before the TaihokuUniversity formally opened itsclasses in 1928 the colonialgovernment was working in theproject. Probably in 1928 somesections of the building wereaccommodated for the first students,and finally in 1929 the building gotinaugurated.

This building externally has theneo-Romanesque decorative patternwe mentioned, but the hall of theentrance still has an eclectic style.As we cross the threshold we find aneo-Egyptian hypostyle hall withsmall lotus leaves on the columncapitals. The columns aredistributed regularly, but some areabsent at the entrance to facilitatethe accessibility. At the back of thishall there is an inner patio,obviously neo-Renaissance on itssecond floor with nine Ioniccolumns supporting a dome. But,contrary to the usual emptiness ofRenaissance patios, this one isoccupied by Baroque stairs thatunite both floors from two differentaccesses. One may wonder as to

where such ceremonial stairs lead,and the probable answer is to aformer hall at the back of the stairs,where the dean’s secretaries officesare located.

It is interesting to mention thepresence of Modernism in the hand-crafted decorations all around; first,along the staircase: in the forge ofthe small balustrade, in the garland-like motifs of the wall, and in thecolor glasses of the windows, etc.Secondly it can be seen in thefurniture scattered in the offices.Through time, some professors havepreferred to use modern andfunctional furniture, and to handover their “old stuff” to otherprofessors that prefer old noblecabinets to host their books. Thesemahogany cabinets still have theirold handles that match perfectlywith other Modernist decorations intheir offices like some glazed tiles orfaucets and sinks. This is not onlyrecognizable in the College of LiberalArts, but in all the buildingsconstructed from 1927 to 1930 in theneo-Romanesque style.

The old Library

The next building constructed inthe year 1929, but formallyinaugurated on 19 January 1930, wasthe Library. Actually everybodyrefers to it as the Old library, and ithosts on its second floor the Galleryof University History ( ). It wasthe second building on the northernside of Palm Boulevard. Its neo-Romanesque character wasparticularly stressed through thethree gate arches in its entrance-pavilion. The wide arches rest onfour capitals, on top of pairs ofcolumns, and decorated with

garlands. This cannot be seen inMedieval Romanesque arches, butthe resemblance is quite evocative.The problem with these capitals isthat they were made with a verysoft stone and year by year, theyhave been disappearing togetherwith the columns without anyefforts at restoration.

If one day, you find yourselfbefore that gate, please do a simpleexercise of visualization. Go to theclosest point in the center of RoyalPalm Boulevard and compare thefaçade of the old Library with thefaçade of the new one. It issurprising how the new one usesthe frame of the old one, resulting ina kind of neo-Neo-Romanesque.

The science buildings

In 1930 construction moved tothe southern part of the boulevard,following very rationalist urbanplanning principles. First, we haveBuilding No.1 ( , 1930), which isa special construction because itaccommodated two departments,that of Zoology and Botany, insteadof one. This is why it does not havea central main door, but twodifferent entrances on both sides.But, as we shall see, the progressivenumbering of the buildings does notcorrespond exactly to theirchronological inauguration. Walkingtowards the East comes Building No.2 ( , 1931), originally destinedfor the Department of Physics. At itsback we can see Building No. 3 (

, 1931), currently the Dept. ofAgricultural Chemistry ( ).This pair of buildings is not properlyindependent because they share thesame gate and are united by agallery.

Crossing the elliptically designedgardens and progressing towardsthe East we reach Building No. 4 (

, 1930), currently the Dept. ofHorticultural Science ( ). Thisbuilding the last one with a neo-Romanesque style also has acounterpart, Building No. 5 ( ),currently hosting the Department ofBioenvironmental Systems Engi-neering ( ). Bothbuildings are also connectedthrough a gallery and share thesame main entrance. Building No. 5

An architectural history class wandering around the National Taiwan University campus

SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2009 12&13TaiwanNews CULTURE

The Royal Palm Boulevard

Lombard "false arches" are the mainfeatures of the neo-Romanesque buildings.

Capitals in the portico of the old Library.They need urgent restoration.

The inner neo-Reinassance patio on the second floor of the College of Liberal Arts

Like ships, students after graduationleave the university docks to enter society.

An old-times ambience is preserved in classroom number 9 of Building No. 5

The Fu Garden, that holds the ashes offormer president Fu, instills a

Romanticist atmosphere on campus.

The Administration building façade hasa Neo-Reinassance design.

RetracingCulturalLandscapes2nd of a Series