World Design Capital Taipei 2016 Designers in Residence Taipei Workshop-Forest Bathing In Taipei Workshop

The development issues that Taipei faces today can be distilled into four strands: “Life Quality and Health,” “Ecological Sustainability,” “Urban Regeneration” and “Smart Living.” Following the main issues, international designers come to Taiwan and provide the residence program, looking forward to interacting with citizens.

Robert van Dongen, an environmental psychologist once said that looking at a chair takes more energy than looking at a tree.

How could a street-tree make its value within the Taipei city?

The painting on the transformer boxes, the trees grow from the old houses encroaching the streets, the intensely constructed buildings and the ragged signboards – all these things grab the attention of Vincent Wittenberg and Bennie Meek, the designers from Netherlands. How could we awake and pick up the imagination for the nature, in such an ambitious and rushing city?

The workshop “Forest Bathing In Taipei”, which is going to have 2 sessions, aims at proposing ideas with the angle of “The Nature Experiences In City” through the discussion and the way of design thinking to figure out the connection and the encounter between the man and the nature. Further information for the second workshop will be announced in the beginning of August.
Workshop I
Date｜2016.7.29
Time｜10:00 – 13:00
Location｜Qi Dong Poetry Salon
Space Availability｜25 participants

About the designers | Vincent Wittenberg &Bennie Meek

Vincent Wittenberg is a socially engaged public space designer and researcher. In his unsolicited work, he reacts to locations, situations and plans, both physically and conceptually. Vincent works with an open and critical approach and act based on research.He graduated from the Design Academy’s Public Space department in 2009. In 2008 I worked as a trainee at ZUS [Zones Urbaines Sensibles] and co-founded VERS: Eindhoven’s first neighbourhood based ‘social design’ collective. He is currently working on a collaborative and prize-winning project called Gewildgroei (Wantedweeds), which advocates a change in perspective regarding urban green and spontaneous vegetation.

Bennie Meek, social designer that explores contemporary ways in which people can relate to nature. After studying traditional carpentry, he continued his training at Design Academy Eindhoven, graduating in 2010 from the bachelor departments Man & Public Space and Man & Wellbeing. In 2012, Bennie received his master’s degree at the department Social Design with the project A New Application For Urban Green. He is specialized in developing concepts conducting empirical research and combining critical analysis with intuitive design methods. Currently working on a collaborative and prize winning project called Gewildgroei (Wantedweeds), which advocates a change in perspective regarding urban green and spontaneous vegetation.