The housing site is located at the center of Taipei, which has been planned as a residential area in the early city planning.

The owner of the house is a sixty-year-old Taiwanese couple and their three children who now live in different cities. We propose a residence as a single-family house as well as housing complex to preserve the traditional Chinese extended family living culture and fulfill the individual needs of privacy in the modern urban living environment.

The width of the existing street in front of the building is less than 4 meters, and old buildings around the site were mostly built according to the maximum permitted percentage site coverage and plot ratios. To comply with the latest local regulations, setting back the building would have been necessary. However, we were able to smartly spirally connect the urban void made spontaneously in the super-high-density residential area with the balcony, the terrace, and the outdoor staircase of the building surroundings. By optimizing the open space, we were able to comply with the permitted planning regulations.

Steel pipes of dimensions 100 mm by 100 mm are arranged every one meter at a position offset from the outermost circumference of the flooring line. These steel pipes are respectively responsible for the horizontal force and the inner vertical force. Not only the double skin facade is drawn in and out, responding to the surrounding environment and the site requirements, various plate-shape materials are also embedded between the facade retain the function of the brace, successfully creating a unique porous appearance.