Taipei City, Taiwan

In the heart of Taipei, J.C. Architecture has created a new environment in an urban world, full of possibilities.

The JCA Living Lab project was recently awarded with a 2020 International Architecture Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.

It is the project’s goal to revive the city through these spaces by providing a safe place for a person to relax in.

The architects explored the ratio between children and adults, streets, and cities; the concept of sensing the exterior from the interior; the idea of experiencing the street from a singular residential unit.

On the block that reciprocates to the city, the team conducted an experiment related to time, the layering of a different era.

Beginning from the era where the Japanese occupied, to development after the establishment of the Taiwanese government, to the 10-year famine that took place, the architects left traces of all these historical events in the design.

The use of Japanese wood, the traces of single dormitory in the 1950s, the vines that grew in the backyard let the future be built on these foundations.

There is a story in the decaying wooden buildings of ninety years.

It is the architects’ vision to find a new way to use a piece of land. It does not have to be perfect.

It does not express more than what is needed.

It is just enough to breathe life into an old space.

With the evolution of society, we are torn between evolving and remaining the same.

Analyzing the lifestyle of modern families and then attempting to contain it in a historical living space is like learning to talk to elders.

There are things that should be preserved, and things that should be changed. Instead of just dwelling on the past, the goal is to bring history forward into the future.

A 6-meter long wall separates the public spaces from the private.

With the Japanese private house as the main space in the residential space, additional public space was added in the 1950s, including a public kitchen and living room, as well as a flex-space for public meetings that take space.

Clean and modern materials create a strong contrast between modern times and historical times.

Exploiting this contrast, the insertion of the door into the wall symbolizes the infusion of a new energy into the existing.

Children have always been the main focus in space.

There is space to let them jump and run freely. Every space is both a place to walk and a place to stop, a place to open, and a place to close.

The arrangement of spaces is what creates connections and interactions.

The master bathroom is connected to the main living space, backyard, and kitchen-dining area.

The tub has become the element for summer external activities.

The greenery plays a role in creating spatial fluidity where the sunlight and wind flow through it.

The skylight of the roof shapes a light path, and carries a majestic tree and acts as a guide for the house, from the beginning to the end.

The exterior red staircase reaches up to the roof, connecting the ground to the sky, and even the block to the city.

This is a design project that never ends, a place full of life and energy and a place for innovation and experiments.

Project: JCA Living Lab
Architects: J.C. Architecture
Client: J.C. Architecture
General Contractor: Hong Metal
Photographer: Kuomin Lee