Jerman Cheung
East Asia Press Office,Hong Kong
Arup holds its first exhibition in Taiwan at Songshan Cultural Park, exploring future cities and showcasing its innovative solutions.
Yesterday’s inauguration was attended by some 200 guests, including government representatives, business leaders and scholars.
“Arup has brought invaluable insight to Taiwan since the opening of its Taipei office five years ago. Their leadership in innovation and building sustainability can be clearly seen in the cases of Hualien Residence and Taipei Performing Art Center. I hope Arup will deliver many more world-class projects to Taiwan.
Vicki Chiu, the Deputy Minister of Culture
In the exhibition, Arup’s unique design approach is summarised in an acronym ‘TRUST’, meaning ‘Total Design’, ‘Resilient’, ‘Unique’, ‘Smart’ and ‘Truly Green’.
“To make our cities better places to live, we have to come up with design solutions that are resilient, unique, smart and truly green. While all of these are reasonable demands, inevitably they are conflicting with each other in a number of aspects that we have to reconcile,” said LM Lui, Arup’s East Asia Region Chairman, “Arup believes ‘Total Design’ is the only way to achieve the optimal balance.”
“Global best practices can be tailored to suit most circumstances, but the most effective way of ensuring a good response is to engage with the people who know best about their cities. That’s why we gather here today – to exchange thoughts with fellows in Taiwan and find out the optimal case for Taiwan,” he added.
“Arup has rich experience in low-carbon and green building design across Asia. While Taiwan has been pushing for carbon reduction and sustainability at home, I’m sure this exhibition will provide great opportunities for the local industry to know more about the latest technologies.
Lin Chung-chieh, the Commissioner of the Economic Development, Taipei Government
Jointly organised with the British Office Taipei and XinArchi, the exhibition is open to the public from 10 to 12 July. A series of salons on safety, smart design and sustainability will also be held to stimulate thoughts on making Taiwan and global cities better places to live.