Ide Kaoru (井手薰,いでかおる, February 6, 1879 - May 11, 1944) was Chief Architect of the Governor-General's Office in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, when the island was part of the

Japanese Empire The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

. He held office in the Building and Repairs section of the Japanese Government-General in Taiwan, and was mainly involved with government and municipal building projects. His distinctive architectural ideas influenced the Taiwanese architectural profession. He was born in

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

Japan. Ide Kaoru favoured a "localisation" approach to Taiwan's architecture. He was influenced by

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

, and in 1929 was elected President of the . He was an advocate of using reinforced concrete, and this featured in almost all his works. Seismic resistance was of the highest priority, as Taiwan is prone to earthquakes. Amongst Ide's most notable works was the

Zhongshan Hall Zhongshan Hall () is a historical building which originally functioned as the Taipei (Taihoku) City Public Auditorium (public hall). It is located at 98 Yanping South Road in the Ximending neighborhood of Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. In 1 ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, which remains in daily use today as a concert hall and cultural centre. Over the years, many receptions have been held there for heads of state and foreign dignitaries, and in 1992 it was designated a Class Two National Historical Site. He also designed the Judicial Yuan Building in the Imperial Crown style, which was completed in 1934. His design for the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

building (completed 1940) was influenced by

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

and the work of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. Ide graduated from

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1906, then moved to Taiwan in 1911. He was one of the few Japanese architects to immerse himself professionally in Taiwan, and stayed there for more than thirty years. He also wrote extensively on the subject of architecture.

Notable works

*Taipei Presbyterian Church (1916) *Chienkung Shrine (Kenkō Jinja, 建功神社, 1928) N.B. Heavily modified from its original design after WWII. * Taipei University School Building and Lecture Hall (1928) *Taipei Taiwan Education Hall (1931) * Judicial Office Building (1934) *Commemorative Exposition of the Beginning of the Governance of Taiwan for 40 years (1935) *Hsinchu Police Headquarters (1935) *Taipei Zhongshan Hall (1936, originally Taipei City Public Auditorium) *Kaohsiung Customs House (1936) *Taipei Police Headquarters (1936) *Chiayi Police Headquarters (1937) *Executive Yuan building (1940)

References

External links

* History Exhibit of Taiwan's Executive Yuan (Parliament) building

* Judicial Yuan websit

* Zhongshan Hall websit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ide, Kaoru 20th-century Japanese architects University of Tokyo alumni 1879 births 1944 deaths 19th-century Japanese architects Imperial Crown Style architecture Members of the Government-General of Taiwan