1 Luce Chapel is a renowned architecture in Taiwan. With its outstanding achievements, it certainly stands outin the modern architectural movement of Preface post-war Taiwan. In October 2014, Luce Chapel was chosen to be one of the ten global classic modern architectures, and the first project within Asian architecture,which received the first “Keeping It Modern” (hereafter abbreviated as KIM) Grant from the Getty Foundation. The Grant acknowledgesthese 20th century modern architectures as milestones of human civilization. With high experimental mentalities, groups of architects and engineersof the previous centuryboldlytried out exploratory materials and cutting edge construction techniques, and built innovative architectures thathave stimulated changes in their surrounding environments, histories, local culture, and forever transformed the philosophical approaches of architecture. However, the Getty Foundation also regards these architectures to be under various degrees of risks. Being fifty to sixty or even older, many of these innovative materials and techniques boldly used at the time oftheirsconstruction were not, and still have not been scientifically tested and analyzed to this very day. Furthermore, the productions of many of these materials have been discontinued due to low adoptions in the market, making conservations even more difficult. Therefore, the Getty Foundation KIM grants promote the sustainable conservation of modern architecture. This focus has also been the core value of the Luce Chapel conservation project. Built in 1963, Luce Chapel has stood on the campus of Tunghai University for over 50 years. This building was designed and built to function as a church building, and has maintained its religious purpose over the years.However, as the number of faculty and students continues to grow,the space demand for community engagements and ceremonial activities of colleges and departments on campus have also increased extensively. Besides being a place for Christian worship, the chapel has also been an important venue for alumni and faculty to hold weddings and some memorial services, and is nowopen for performances of important artists and performing groups, school’s opening and closing ceremonies, and graduation commencements. Due to its frequent usage and swelling demands on supplementaryfunctions, the school also needs to reinforce the chapel’s sound system, lighting, air conditioning apart from replacing, renewing and maintaining worn materials and deteriorated construction modules. Every restoration construction would inevitably alter the body of the chapel to a certain degree. Some operations can even cause unintentional and irreversible damages. Therefore, this research project is divided into “Historical Background Research,” “Investigation and Repair Strategies forMaterial Damages,” and “Functional Upgrades.” The discussion on “Historical Background” includes two major topics. First, we shall discuss the evangelical purpose of Luce Chapel under its historical context as a church building in a Christian university. Accordingly, we will review its purpose to serve as “a testimony for missionary works,” “a university chapel,” “a modern architecture in an Asian Christian university,” and “a testimony as contemporary cultural encountering between the East and the West.” From there, we shall mark the historical significance of the conservation of Luce Chapel, and explain how the Luce Foundation, United Board for Christian Education in 2 3 Asia,and Tunghai University gladly came to agree on the style of thisparticular Foundation, its significance as a cultural heritage has been further established. built form. The research shall also use this as a foundation to reviewthe interview Before it was granted, the administration departments of Tunghai University have records with the main designer, Chi Kwan Chen, and the photos and construction also applied forthe desiginationof Luce Chapel as a cultural heritage. In one of the documents accumulated at the time of its construction. Through scrutinizing school’s administration meeting, it was agreed that the building should be valued these records, we are trying to track the entire design process of the chapel as a “national monument,” the highest level of national cultural heritage, and a besides illustrating detail architectural techniques, such as model testing, promotion for desigination by the Minister of Culture of the central government structural decision-making, site planning, and environmental planning. Studies of Taiwan had beenenacting accordingly. on the later historical topic is meant to help the research members involved in the When the construction of Luce Chapel began in 1962, there were noarchitectural sub-projects of “Investigation and Repair Strategies of Material Damages” and regulations, nor restrictions on hillside exploitation at Taiwan. Therefore, no “Functional Upgrades” to tie their research on the “authenticity” of the chapel, architectural license was verified before the construction. Today, demands for and make the repair principles based on historical restoration. fire control, emergency exits, and barrier free environment have grown. Sitting on the campus of Tunghai University,the repairment and maintenance Neverthelessthese issues were resolved through “corresponding regulations” of Luce Chapel had long been a work of collaboration between the Tunghai under the principle of honoring the original look of the chapel upon recognition University Christian Church and the school’s General Affairs Officefor over fifty of its identity as a cultural heritage. Thus, issues on improving fire control and years. Therefore, the Architecture Research Center has worked jointly with the barrier free environment are not included in this project. office of General Affairs on the“Investigation and Repair Strategy of Material This project began in October 2014, and was carried out to the end of February damages.” Through retrieving the original blueprints, construction contracts, 2016. Since the application on the desiginationof Luce Chapel as a cultural construction photo records, and available repair records from the office of heritage was not yet approved by the end of this project in 2015, this research General Affairs, the Architecture Research Center is able to compare with the on- project was not able to be put together cohesively and published as a thorough site records and make attempts in restoring the original condition of the chapel repair guidebook. However, the execution of this project still held on to the goal uponcompletion in 1963, and its actual conditions in different repair stages after of the grant, which is to accomplish a scientific detail analysis on the innovative the mid 80s. Along with the interview records with Chi Kwan Chen, historical and materials, construction methods, structural systems of Luce Chapel, a classic professional analyses toward Luce Chapel accumulated within the curriculums of piece of Asian Modernism. the Architecture Department over time, the sub-project teams have a firm base Once Luce Chapel is listed as a cultural heritage, the repair principles for the for their studies on“Investigation and Repair Strategies of Material Damages,” restoration sub-projects shall function as a credible reference for professionals to and “Functional Upgrades.” make practical restoration plansin accordance with the Cultural Heritage Therefore, this project further breaks the topic “Investigation and Repair Preservation Act. It is also a useful reference forthe publications regarding the Strategies of Material Damages”into the following four categories: “structure” conservation of the chapel. This project shall also provide conservation standards (Structural Investigation about Seismic Simulation of Henry Luce Memorial with analytical data on acoustic improvement, air conditioning refinement, Chapel), “construction” (Construction Investigation, Conservation and and lighting plan, etc. for members in charge of cultural heritage preservation Restoration of Henry Luce Memorial Chapel: on Tiles, Foundation, Mortar, and to use as a basic reference to establish restoration criteria. Preservation of tiles Openings), “wooden objects” (Research on the Conservation Methods of Wooden and glaze is more difficult when considering the constraints on the terms and Objects in the Luce Chapel), and“tiles and glaze” (Investigation and Discussion conditions required for low-temperature kilns, and the debates on whether to on the Conservation of Tiles of the Luce Chapel). In the category of “Functional preserve the “original body” of relative objects. There are also some issues on Upgrades,” the topic is further diverged into four sub-categories: “improvements technical problems of restoring principals yet need to be discussed. Beforefirm and restoration project on the thermal environment (The Research on Luce decisions on the conservation principles are made, restoration projects on tiles Chapel Conservation---The Investigation and Improvement Plan of Thermal and glaze shall focus on preserving and recycling the glazed tiles. We are very Environment), “air conditioning installation project” (Luce Chapel HVAC System grateful for the help of Getty Foundation. Through the conservation research on Renovation Study), “improvement project on the acoustic environment” (Acoustic Luce Chapel, preservation of modern architectures in Taiwan has finally come to Diagnostics and Suggestions Regarding the Luce Chapel), “studies on the lighting light.