“Mind the Gap” international design workshop kicks off at NCKU
Tainan, Taiwan, April 8, 2013
A five-day international design workshop themed “Mind the Gap,” was hosted by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, April 8-12.
12 students from Royal College of Art (RCA), London, United Kingdom, led by Martin Postler attended the opening ceremony to meet their counterparts from NCKU ready to bridge the gaps.
Dr. Hong-Sen Yan, Executive Vice President of NCKU on behalf of President Hwung-Hweng Hwung welcomed the guests from the UK and said, “Mind the Gap is a collaborative project between 12 design students from Platform 17 of the Design Products course of the RCA in London and 29 students of 8 different departments from the NCKU in Tainan.”
The 12 Students in Platform 17 are from 8 different countries including Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and America. “A clash of cultures is expected since there are very diverse people from different countries teamed up here,” according to Postler who proposed “Mind the Gap” as the theme of the workshop.
“Mind the Gap can be seen as an experiment which will allow the observer a global perspective from which to look at the challenges facing modern urban transportation hubs and the design strategies used to respond to them,” according to Dr. Feng-Tyan Lin, Dean of College of Planning and Design, NCKU.
Yan pointed out that NCKU is one of the best comprehensive universities in Taiwan and he added, “In NCKU we have 9 colleges in the same campus, and the students and faculty members in the 9 colleges work very well with each other.”
“The project will focus on 2 train stations, Tainan Station and London’s Marylebone station,” according to Lin who added that both are historical transportation hubs both build around 1900 and located in the city center.
Postler said, “We should look at the public transport in general or even a bus stop and what we are planning is to develop a project that we can present during London Design Festival in September, and hopefully to simulate that kind of festival in Taiwan as well.”
“It is our challenge to find the gap from not only tangible but also intangible things. And we hope to find the gap within public spaces and maybe solve the gaps by the design,” according Min-Yuan Ma, one of the major advisors of the workshop.
He also said that 3 renowned designers are invited to give a talk - NDD Design CEO Hugh Hu on “Gather, Activate, Perform. New Perspective of Tainan Culture, ” RCA Martin Postler and 6 graduate students presenting RCA Design integration “Design Integration and Six for the Future,” and Chairman of NCKU Department of Architecture Tay-Sheng Jeng on “Smart=Green+Humane.”
The students are presenting design concepts at the end of the workshop. Tainan Station also provides the station for on-site observation and investigation to let the students explore more, in order to make the final design suits the station better to bring new concept to the local community.
A culture tour to Anping and a luxury Yacht manufacturer visiting trip will be arranged on April 12 to wrap up the workshop.
(By Sonia Chuang)
enditem/
A five-day international design workshop themed “Mind the Gap,” was hosted by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, April 8-12.
12 students from Royal College of Art (RCA), London, United Kingdom, led by Martin Postler attended the opening ceremony to meet their counterparts from NCKU ready to bridge the gaps.
Dr. Hong-Sen Yan, Executive Vice President of NCKU on behalf of President Hwung-Hweng Hwung welcomed the guests from the UK and said, “Mind the Gap is a collaborative project between 12 design students from Platform 17 of the Design Products course of the RCA in London and 29 students of 8 different departments from the NCKU in Tainan.”
The 12 Students in Platform 17 are from 8 different countries including Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and America. “A clash of cultures is expected since there are very diverse people from different countries teamed up here,” according to Postler who proposed “Mind the Gap” as the theme of the workshop.
“Mind the Gap can be seen as an experiment which will allow the observer a global perspective from which to look at the challenges facing modern urban transportation hubs and the design strategies used to respond to them,” according to Dr. Feng-Tyan Lin, Dean of College of Planning and Design, NCKU.
Yan pointed out that NCKU is one of the best comprehensive universities in Taiwan and he added, “In NCKU we have 9 colleges in the same campus, and the students and faculty members in the 9 colleges work very well with each other.”
“The project will focus on 2 train stations, Tainan Station and London’s Marylebone station,” according to Lin who added that both are historical transportation hubs both build around 1900 and located in the city center.
Postler said, “We should look at the public transport in general or even a bus stop and what we are planning is to develop a project that we can present during London Design Festival in September, and hopefully to simulate that kind of festival in Taiwan as well.”
“It is our challenge to find the gap from not only tangible but also intangible things. And we hope to find the gap within public spaces and maybe solve the gaps by the design,” according Min-Yuan Ma, one of the major advisors of the workshop.
He also said that 3 renowned designers are invited to give a talk - NDD Design CEO Hugh Hu on “Gather, Activate, Perform. New Perspective of Tainan Culture, ” RCA Martin Postler and 6 graduate students presenting RCA Design integration “Design Integration and Six for the Future,” and Chairman of NCKU Department of Architecture Tay-Sheng Jeng on “Smart=Green+Humane.”
The students are presenting design concepts at the end of the workshop. Tainan Station also provides the station for on-site observation and investigation to let the students explore more, in order to make the final design suits the station better to bring new concept to the local community.
A culture tour to Anping and a luxury Yacht manufacturer visiting trip will be arranged on April 12 to wrap up the workshop.
(By Sonia Chuang)
enditem/
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