Lecture: The Narrative Planning Strategy of “Story Scenes” in the Reutilization of Historical Sites(2020/12/11)

“Buildings are bodies, stories the soul.”

To restore historic sites, one does not simply return them to their original state. It is more important to trace the messages hidden and concealed within. Professor Hsu Yu-Chien(徐裕健) was responsible for several significant restoration projects. In each, he directed most of his efforts towards finding those often overlooked, but nonetheless existing and culturally significant codes and information. By combining these, Professor Hsu bridged the temporal dimensions of the then and the now. He became a storyteller of the places he works on, with the sites become the texts. The following experiences help Professor Hsu illustrate this point. During the restoration project of a temple he participated in, it was the Anlong diantu ritual performed in front of the temple that caught his attention and made him realize that a traditional custom was transformed from a formal message to a symbolic one. Also, the fragmentation created by the resistance against the demolition of Bopiliao must be regarded as an integral part of the conversation project as well, for it is through these traces and records that historical sites partake in the storytelling processes of their own places. Through an abundance of examples, Professor Hsu showed that the restoration of historic sites is much more than just returning them to their original condition. The most crucial task is to find ways to trace, to preserve and to present the multi-faceted connections between the buildings and the people.