Firm： Arcadian Architecture+Design

Type： Commercial › Exhibition Center Showroom Cultural › Gallery

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2018

SIZE： 5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

Architects: Arcadian Architecture＋Design

Location: Hsinchu, Taiwan

Principal In Charge: Alex Yu

Design Team: Ping-Jui Chiang、Jerry Chang、Yu-Hsien Lin、Man-Wei Ke、

Cheng-Hui Lu、Yu-Shan Huang、Kuan-Chen Lin、

Hau-Yuan Chiang、Fang-Hsi Yang、Jyun-Sheng Yang

Po-Yuan Cheng

Completion: November 2018

Site Area: 1315.53㎡

Total Floor Area:498.74㎡

Client: APEX Group

Photographs: Courtesy of APEX Group / Arcadian Architecture＋Design

The side of this project is located around the corner at the intersection of two main avenue in Hsinchu City in northern Taiwan, noted for its high tech industries. This project is aimed to provide an exhibition space for introducing a notion of a housing unit as a second home which is designed specifically for those high-level management people who work for high tech industries.

People who intend to visit this building are required to make a reservation first. So the design concept of this project is following a thought of ‘inward-looking’ idea to develop the entire building configuration. A 4-meter high horizontal building volume was placed aligned to the borderline of its site. The main façade along the street was composed by three layers of perforated metal plates with white painting, and the rest of the façade was remained solid. The random and irregular openings in free forms on the metal plates are the implication of the overlapping shadows pattern underneath a tree during a sunny day. The perforated metal screen formed the translucent interface between the inner courtyard and the sidewalk.

This white horizontal building volume was raised above the landscape of water and greenery to create an image of floating lighting box anchored around the corner of a busy urban context. During the night time, the box was illuminated and transformed to a street lantern floating above the ground. The main entry of this building was located at far and away side from the street corner to gain a low profile approach for the reserved guests.

A 9-meter high rectangular volume containing a dome of quarter shape was protruded out above the roof. The dome with an opening facing the south allows abundant sunlight to penetrate into the interior space. Beneath the dome is a water plate with a sunken circular pit in the center. The sculpture-like housing model was place in the middle and became a visual focus while the other functional spaces was placed around the high ceiling space. The sunlight casting on the water surface is moving to and fro according to the different periods during the daytime.

Due to the demonstrated housing unit was designed by means of the idea of a second home, in the center of the housing plan, a balcony with 3 square meter size was arranged between the living room and the dining room. The balcony plays a role of leisure core and contains a sunken bath tub together with a nearby sauna facility. A switchable privacy glass was applied along the perimeter of the balcony to gain different atmosphere accordingly.