Gongdong Senior High School Cathedral Building Introduction
The Gong Dong Senior High School of Industry was established in 1957 by Father Paul Chao of the PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions), one of the most important missions of the PIME in Taiwan during its early years was to assist youth from remote areas in the Hualien and Taitung regions. The goal was to help them find better starting points for life development through vocational education, while also cultivating the manpower needed for industrial development in Taiwanese society. Gong Dong High School has a very rigorous teaching approach; in its first ten years, the teaching was primarily conducted by 15 Swiss technicians, using textbooks and teaching methods imported from Europe. This led Gong Dong Senior High School to become one of the most renowned institutions in Taiwan's vocational education sector, nurturing many professionals who have excelled and won numerous international awards. In addition to its recent reputation in the field of vocational education, the architecture on campus reflects the PIME's emphasis and meticulousness in the establishment of Gong Dong Senior High School. They specifically invited the architect Dr. Justurs Dahinden from Switzerland, who collaborated closely with structural engineer Dr. Schubiger to create outstanding campus buildings. The unique design of the panel structure and the coordination of architectural design resulted in a reinforcement usage that was only half that of typical buildings, a wise approach during a time when building materials were scarce and extremely expensive. Among the three early campus buildings, the Chapel Building is particularly noteworthy. The small chapel on the top floor of the building makes full use of sloped roofs, rough-cast concrete walls, and the dramatic interplay of daylight and colored glass windows along the main axis of the chapel, creating a space that is heavy, dark, filled with religious symbolism, and contemplative. This chapel space rivals the spatial usage techniques of renowned architect Le Corbusier in the Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut and the La Tourette Monastery. After its completion, the campus quickly became a focal point for local architects, gaining such notoriety that it was featured in the professional magazine "Architecture." In recent years, school papers have explored and analyzed this building as a theme, and professional photographers have published rich illustrated photography books about the Chapel Building and Father Chao. As a result, the Chapel Building has become a well-known pilgrimage site in the architecture community, and its uniqueness and historical background led to its registration as a historic building in 2003. Gradually, it has become a must-visit attraction for travelers to Taitung!
