Chen House

ITA | ENG

The house is realized on an old Japanese cherry-farm in the Datun mountains of North-Taiwan.

It is designed as a vessel to react on the demanding wind, flooding and heat conditions on the site.

The house is a stick raised above the ground in order to let the flood waters run under it. The different spaces are connected to a flexible movement within the axis of outdoor and indoor functions.

The smaller bathroom and kitchen unit acts as a kicker stabilizing the wooden structure during the frequent typhoons and earthquakes.

The bio-climatic architecture is designed to catch the cool breeze from the Datun -river during the hot days and to let in the small winds circulating on the site between the fresh water reservoir pond and the farmlands.

A fire place is used during the winter for heating and for cooking tea. In connection with the bathroom is a small sauna.

The house is not strong or heavy – it is weak and flexible. It is also not closing the environment out, but designed to give the farmers a needed shelter.

Ruin is when man-made has become part of nature. With this house we were looking forward to design a ruin.

In a dream last night, I saw a great storm. It seized the scaffolding. It tore the cross-clasps, the iron ones, down. But what was made of wood, swayed and remained.

Bertolt Brecht

Gallery

Credits

project > Marco Casagrande
collaborators > Frank Chen
construction work > Marco Casagrande, Frank Chen, Shi-Ding Chen, Nikita Wu, Shu-Gi Bai
location > Sanjhih, Taipei County (Taiwan)
program > residential building
material > wood, concrete
dimension > 138 mq
chronology > 2008
photo credits > Nikita Wu