First UD-M 2003 architecture
lecture has third world focus

The first of several lectures from prominent national and international architects was conducted January 22 on the University of Detroit Mercy's McNichols campus with Jae Chae of Light Inc., Washington, D.C., taking the podium. Sponsored by the Great Lakes Fabricators & Erectors Association, the lectures are open to the public. Chae's presentation nearly filled the recently renovated gallery within the UD-M's School of Architecture with many Detroit area architects and architectural students.

Born in New Delhi, India, Chae grew up in the U.S., Canada, and India. Recently she won two ar+d awards, an international juried competition for emerging architects organized by Architectural Review. She achieved a master in architecture from Yale University and established Light Inc. in 2000.

She earned her ar+d awards for designing a 1,250 sq. ft. church for Urubo, a small village in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. A series of slides presented during the lecture explained the design and construction of the church, which is made with local wood and translucent polycarbonate sheets that generate patterns of light and shadow within the structure. Planning took eight months but the church was built in only ten days by congregation members, local skilled workers, and volunteers from the U.S.

"When I finished school, I was unsure of what to do," she explained. "I knew I had to create architecture and that it would have to come naturally to me, without the need for wealthy clients."

On a missionary trip by her church to eastern Bolivia, she visited a poor village in need of a church. She was able to obtain grant money to design and construct the structure, returning to the village to assist local workers in adapting her blueprints to local building practices.

The design of the church relies on the creation of two concentric circular structures designed to enhance ventilation in a hot climate for people who can't even dream of air conditioning.

"I had heard about what goes on in developing countries but until I came to Bolivia I had never experienced it myself," she admitted. "People live dramatically different from how I've lived, with such structures as straw houses, dirt floors, no sanitation. There is simply so much need."

The church's architecture is intended to express the open spirit of God. Yet to further serve His people, the building has been designed so that when not needed for services it can be quickly adapted for use as a market place, day care center, school, or similar purpose.

"Certainly I had to make it easy to build, using local talent," Chae said. The construction techniques employed where a small, gasoline powered electrical generator was the only source of power had to focus on the use of hand tools. "The construction was crude," she admitted. Yet the church is sturdy and now provides the village a functional structure that makes an architectural statement.

Since the Boliva project, Chae has gone on to obtain other grants to design community facilities in other countries, including the Honduras and Costa Rico. "There is so much an architect can do in developing countries," she told her audience. But she also expressed concerns that, being a U.S. trained architect, her designs can suffer from a bias imparted by Western civilization that inhibits the incorporation of a people's cultural and ethnical heritage. "I don't think my designs are perfect," she admitted. "But when you go down there, if it doesn't work, you change it, and that's all right. I like that."

The remaining lectures for the winter and spring of 2003 include: