“I’m still frightened to recall the four hours that night when I lost my way [in the desert],” said Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Tommy Chen (陳彥博). “To catch up to my Brazilian competitor, I decided to move in a straight line instead of going around obstacles in the terrain. But unexpectedly, my electronics went crazy when I waded into water; all the coordinates

were off. I fumbled about amid dunes, shrubs and ponds but could not find a clear direction. Eventually I saw footprints on a sand dune, making me think I had finally found the Brazil-ian runner’s track. But looking more closely, I started sweating because I had retraced my own steps after more than two hours.”

Chen decided to reset his coordinates and try again. After a while he saw a faint yel-low light far in the distance and headed for it, avoiding shrubs and dunes for fear that they would block the light. The alternative he took was to cut through water. As he waded in, the water immersed his ankles, knees, torso, and eventually shoulders. “When my feet were no

longer on solid ground I was jolted into swim-ming,” Chen recalled. Despite his headlamp, he could not see far in the dark. His gear dragged him downward and his toes started twitching from overexertion. “Finally I saw a small bush ahead and dragged myself out of the water. I hurried to change into my long-sleeved thermal clothes and kindled a fire from dry branches using my lighter, for warmth.”

Chen’s ordeal occurred in the Lencois Maranhenses National Park in northwestern Brazil, where he ran an extreme marathon that ended last Sunday. By the end of the three-day, 170-km race, he placed sec-ond among 40 competitors. To date, Chen has finished the 2009 Himalayan 160-km Stage Race, the 2010 North Pole Marathon and the Antarc-tic 100-km Ultra-Race, as well as a 250-km, seven-day ordeal in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa last year.

That night at Lencois Mara-nhenses, Chen was exhausted, hungry and shivering from cold when he finally found his way back

to Check Point 1. The French team was resting there and asked Chen if he would join them and depart in 15 minutes. Part of Chen was ready to give up

at that point. He was almost in tears from fear and frustration, but another

part of him knew that he must continue — and he

did. “Only later as day-break approached did

I realize that you don’t have to decide in advance whether to give up. You can decide when you really are on your knees,” mused

Chen.Despite its dangers, the

run was unforgettable for Chen: “One a.m., 2 a.m, 3 a.m.,

4 a.m., from pitch-dark to day-break you keep on running. You hear the wind blowing the sands.

When the aching in your legs becomes unbearable you sit at the top of the dune, stretch them, eat something, and shut your eyes for five minutes. It makes you forget where in the world you are.” Chen is now set to start training for his next race — a 235-km marathon in Spain, scheduled for July. ■

When it comes to architecture, most people lack imagination in evaluating the potential of their surroundings. We are so used to living in an environ-

ment made of concrete and steel that it seems surreal to imagine organic buildings that would interact with human beings.

Yet, a new exhibition, “Procedural Architec-ture ― Resolution in the Age of Meta-Digital” (衍序建築展―後設數位時代的新維度), at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MOCA, 臺北當代藝術館) well exemplifies how architecture professionals truly envision our surroundings in the future.

It all began with “Teahouse 2.0,” a work-shop co-organized by Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the In-stitute of Architecture, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU, 台灣交通大學建築研究所). Thirty students of CAAD visited Taiwan for the two-week workshop held at NCTU last month. The exchange was a lot more than panel dis-cussions and computer simulations, as within two weeks’ time works like “Cupavilion” (杯觥交錯) and “Teagloo” (茶•胞), unconventional teahouses made of plastic cups and plywood, were generated from scratch.

Keisuke Toyoda, curator of the exhibition who currently teaches at NCTU, noted that the project is about a paradigm shift in archi-tectural design. “We are coming into an era where we can manipulate genes of design. With computational design we can create these genes and DNA,” he said during the exhibition open-ing last week.

“Steel and concrete changed the world of architecture drastically in the 20th century. For the 21st century we see the coming of informa-tion technology, through which we are finding new dimension, resolution and sensitivity of design,” he added.

Cupavilion

The idea to make a teahouse with plastic

cups was inspired by the tea-drinking phenom-enon in Taiwan, where people drink tea on al-most all occasions — over chitchat; in business meetings; before, during and after a meal; and with tea shops available almost everywhere. Needless to say this means the consumption of a considerable amount of plastic cups.

How do you build a teahouse with plastic cups? It sounds difficult for most of us, but not to architecture professionals, who managed to interlock them to build a pavilion.

“Some of the cups are right-side-up; oth-ers are upside-down. They interlock with each other and with layers of plastic boards, form-ing a stable structure which can withstand the weight of up to seven or eight people,” said Hou

June-hao (侯君昊), assistant professor at the NCTU’s Institute of Architecture, who gave a tour of the exhibits.

The project began with a Taipei street sur-vey on space allocation and people’s residential status. Through a computer program the data was visualized, and there came the design.

“In two weeks our students built a life-size Cupavilion, not a small model. I think this is a mile-stone to students of architecture,” he remarked.

Teagloo

When you add hot water to tea leaves to make tea, the leaves swell and spread as they absorb the water. Teagloo is based on this basic tea-making process. It consists of plywood-made hexagonal units, which are inflatable by using an air compressor.

“Teagloo is tea plus igloo, referring to the shape and the idea that people coming into the space brings it vitality, just like what water does to tea leaves. This is a biomimicry design,” Hou said.

Biomimicry design means finding inspira-tion of design from nature. Hou noted that in the past, biomimicry design was making something that looks like a live creature. Nowadays the area has advanced to mimic biological functions.

“With the design, Teagloo becomes translu-cent with more light passing through,” he added.

In addition to the teahouses, a few interactive works including “Urban Mimosa,” and “Spark,” invite visitors to imagine buildings that can breathe and express feelings, just like human beings. ■

‘Procedural Architec-

ture ― Resolution in the Age of Meta-Digital’ (衍序建築展 ― 後設數位時代的新維度) ► From today until July 1/ Museum

of Contemporary Art Taipei (臺北當代藝術館) / No. 39 Chang An W. Rd., Taipei (台北市長安西路39號) / Free Admission, open from Tuesday

to Sunday, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. / www.mocataipei.org.tw

Local, foreign architecture students join hands to build unconventional tea-houses made of plastic cups and plywood

Prime TimeArt, Live Music, Performances & Movies

Friday, June 1, 2012 The China Post

‘Snow White’ a gorgeous take on fairy tale

PrimeMovies | P. 3

Exhibition

Tang Hsiang-yiThe China Post

Interview

By Lin yuTing and JosepH yeHThe China Post

Ultramarathon runner Tommy Chen comes home to recount race in Brazilian desert

“Prometheus,” the grand sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Noomi Rapace, Logan Mar-shall-Green, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron, is set for its Taiwanese release on June 6. Read-ers of The China Post have responded to our survey last week to claim their movie tickets! The answer to our ques-tion is this: Michael Fassbender plays an android named David in the film. Incidentally, Fassbender’s performance has been unanimously praised in early reviews.

Nikolay Vladimirovich has been studying in Taiwan for a year. He likes films with special effects and that offer a

great time. “I often go to movies with my Chinese friends so I will likely go with them. If I like it I’ll recommend it to my Russian friends too,” said Nikolay upon receiving the ticket.

As Nikolay told us, if the trailer and story intrigues him, he would see the film regardless of who the direc-tor and the cast are. In this case, however, he remembers Ridley Scott as the director of “Gladiator,” a film Niko-lay remembers for its grand scenes and epic story. Nikolay is therefore expecting something spectacular in “Prometheus.”

“Trailers are sometimes bet-ter than the actual movie, in other words the best moments are all in the film,” he added; “hopefully

‘Prometheus’ is worth watching and doesn’t suffer from clichés and predictable endings.”

Ana Carolina Aula is from Guatemala and has been in Taiwan for a year and a half to study forestry. She loves music and also spends a lot of time playing Spanish flamenco music on an electric bass. Regarding “Prometheus,” Ana finds that the trailer seems to want her to guess “how many people are going to die and whether they are going to be infected or not.” Ana’s Chilean friend Alan Tang Aguilera is also excited to see the film. “It’s really interesting because they changed the alien aspect to a virus,” said Alan.

Maria Asuncion Casullo and Carlos Roberto Lopez are roommates studying Chinese at Chinese Culture University (文化大學). Maria ex-pects “a fast paced sci-fi movie.” She enjoys try-ing out new food, hanging out with friends and partying sometimes. “In Taiwan every street is new to us so I like to go walk around too,” she added. Carlos, who enjoys running, swimming, soccer and cycling in his free time, also expects a thrilling time at “Prometheus.” ■

Readers have responded to PrimeTime’s

survey last week to claim their movie

tickets We want ‘Prometheus’!

Alan Tang Aguilera (left) and Ana Carolina

Aula (right) Wang Chien-yu, The China Post

Carlos Roberto Lopez (left) and Maria

Asuncion Casullo (right)

Wang Chien-yu, The China Post

Nikolay Vladimirovich Wang Chien-yu, The China Post

1 2 3 4

1. Visitors sample Chinese tea in the ‘Cupavilion,’ a teahouse made of plastic cups.

2. ‘Teagloo’ provides a space for spectators to enjoy a cup of tea.

3. ‘Cupola Prototype I’ is a 2.1 meter tall, 2.4 meter wide paper installation, created by a team led by Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

4. ‘Spark’ is an interactive installation that senses movements in front of it, and makes responses. Wang Chien-yu, The China Post

Creative living space comes to life

Runner stays the course

‘Teagloo’ is a teahouse constructed with plywood-made hexagonal units, by a group of students from Institute of Architecture, National Chiao Tung University.

Courtesy of MOCA

Foreign Community

By Lin yuTingThe China Post

Wang Chien-yu, The China Post