Ruin as a Paradigm of Spatial Conception

[[abstract]]The ruin is one of the resurrecting themes in contemporary spatial discourses. Since Arata Isozaki's project of future city in 1962, which is a city suspended above the ruins of classical columns in giant scale, various insightful arguments about the meaning and function of a significant ruin site have put the landscape of ruin into cultural and spatial spotlight. In the context of Taiwan, the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan represents similar connotation in terms of its disaster reminding, meaning searching and cultural redefinition. In the site of disaster, local government preserves some in-spot scenes after earthquake, such as collapsed school structures and raised river beds, to serve as reminders of the disaster. The study tries to look into these ruins and search for their spatial and cultural connotations, as well as their potential in spatial conception and place formation. Some architectural projects such as Isozaki's Tsukuba Center and Koolhaas's conception of Berlin Wall will be used to further explain the possibility of ruin as the inspiration of spatial conception