In 1996, after the "arts come home to the countryside" activity, Chuang Ming-yi was assigned by his superior to attend a lecture and seminar on holistic community building. "I wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea at the time, and I didn't understand anything about architecture or community building. Anyway, I thought, what would they need with a civil engineer in that kind of thing?"
民國八十五年「藝術歸鄉」活動後，莊明儀以一個基層在地技工的身份，被長官派去參加「社區總體營造」的講習及座談，「那時我還納悶，我又不懂得建築營造，再說，社區重建會需要土木工程嗎？」