Casa nella giungla

Renovation of a house with a large garden in the hills outside Taipei

A rural Taiwanese building with very little notable architectural features, located in the natural setting of the hills outside Taipei, is to be converted into a country house for a family of six.

The preservation of the structure dictated the building’s volume, which was lightened through two strategies: a change in materials - with a heavier, textured stone ground floor anchored to the earth, and the upper two floors clad in lighter plaster - and the introduction of large glass windows that dematerialize the mass.

Inside, the envelope is conceived as a thick layer that incorporates all the furniture and is sculpted by light. The functional organization is managed through two longitudinal bands: one service-oriented, clad in wood, and the other, made of the same external material, housing the sequence of primary living spaces.