We have all undergone rigorous professional training, and of course we know that buildings need to fit in with the urban landscape. In addition to being accepted by the owners, the designs for our super-skyscrapers were all approved by the relevant urban authorities, with very close attention given to questions about their height, and whether or not they would fit in with the surrounding environment. In New York for example, whatever you build is going to be tall, and no-one thinks there's anything strange about that. But in Kaohsiung, the first building to reach such a height does of course stand out far above its surroundings. But this is a transitional phase. I think that the presence of a building like the T&C Tower encourages other projects to rise in height. With the Grand 50 Tower, the surrounding area wasn't developed at the same time, which is a little regrettable. Let me emphasize again, when you lead the race you're never in line with others, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't race at all! Between commercialism and art
Sinorama: When the Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid came to Taiwan she pointed out that Taiwanese architecture is geared to the requirements of the owners and is "too commercialized." She criticized the fact that "in the area around the Taipei World Trade Center all the buildings are high-rises, like islands unto themselves but having little connection with their users." Do you agree?
Lee: Given the circumstances of the environment and the land, regardless of whether or not Zaha agrees, what you end up with are the high-rise buildings that she talks of. In the Japanese era, only officials and a handful of wealthy citizens were able to build decent houses to live in, but now more people have the clout to build offices and residences. Economic strength and business activity have been the motivating factors for a lot of construction in Taiwan during the past 20 years, and viewed from the perspective of fine culture, some office blocks are inelegantly designed, because the fundamental consideration in the development of an office block is its cost-effectiveness, and it is commercialized by definition. But commercial buildings now predominate in terms of "quantity." Our ambition is to go with the trend and accept this as fact, but improve the quality. We hope to turn commercial buildings from commodities into culture, which is to say that as long as people are willing to work hard, commodities can become art works. What is lacking in the case of most commercial buildings is that extra input of work.
Taiwan, and indeed the whole world, is confronting the problems of "growth." I think there are two kinds of people: those who are opposed to growth and those who favor growth. People opposed to growth think that it is wrong to build tall and large. They are against all man-made spaces and against materialization, and think that everyone should go back to nature in the villages and countryside. But growth is still the overriding trend, and everyone is encouraged to produce, to consume, to build, and in this way to generate new opportunities. Putting aside the question of which is right and which is wrong, it is impossible for us as architects to oppose growth unless we stop being architects and stop making houses. The two approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, it would probably be absurd to put up a tower-block in a country village, but there are prices to be paid in order for there to be growth.
A food culture, but no home culture
Sinorama: How has the architectural environment in Taiwan changed since you came back 20 years ago? What kind of role has been played by architects like yourself who returned here from the West?
Lee: Twenty years ago in Taiwan people were not as concerned as they are today about architectural appearances. Of course, the architectural quality of individual buildings has risen, but regrettably, architects have not been able to do much to improve the appearance of Taiwan's cities.
Twenty years ago when an owner wanted a new building made, "quantity" was the chief concern-how many square feet and how much it would cost. At that time, quantity equaled value. When we came back to Taiwan we gradually encouraged the idea that "quality too can equal value." As with the Asiaworld Plaza Building, when the owner agreed that the balconies didn't necessarily have to be totally covered, and different parts of the building could have different heights.
Some owners said that they didn't want their buildings to be like uniform industrial products, without any distinguishing features. So we started to dress the buildings up a bit. We spent a great deal of time getting people to understand that a building is not just a necessity, but is also a product with culture and dignity. But to this day, we feel that Chinese people's attitudes about the quality of space still need improving.
On example is the way that outside the doors of 70-80% of modern apartments, residents use what was intended as public space to stack their shoes. People say that this is because there is too little space inside the apartments themselves, but apartments are even smaller in Japan and they don't seem to have mounds of shoes outside their doors. I think that this is the "practical" mentality of the Chinese at work, or the attitudes of an agricultural society-use whatever is available-and people just don't think about how to arrange their environment. Another example: there are restaurants in the West in which great attention has been given to the space and atmosphere, and where prices are higher than in those restaurants where decor is less of a factor. But for Chinese people, when we hear how much the food costs we simply go somewhere else. In hotels, when Chinese people are told it costs an extra $50 for a room with a sea-view, the reaction is: Who needs it? A hotel's for sleeping in, right? So they pick a cheaper room. We still don't accept the idea that things like environment and service amount to value, and we still expect "an object for an object." These are the root causes of the problems that we still face in terms of our chaotic urban landscape and low-quality buildings.