Architects: Nameless Tree Design Ltd.
Area: 241 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Shao Chi Ho
Lead Architect: Wen-Shiung, Lee
Contractors: Te Feng Lumber Co., Ltd.
Country: Taiwan
The House in Between Small and Large is designed by Nameless Tree Design Ltd. in an urban setting. It creates a vital connection with nature and facilitates interaction among residents. By incorporating intermediate spaces and a unique structural approach, it enables natural air and light flow, enhancing living conditions. The design employs sustainable materials, aligning with ecological principles and user comfort, while emphasizing maintainability to ensure durability against environmental and structural challenges.
Creating connections between people and nature, as well as among individuals themselves, the design of this house prioritizes integration with the natural environment. Due to the site’s limited exposure to natural wind, the architecture aims to foster natural air circulation and enhance light penetration into more enclosed areas. Through the strategic placement of “intermediate spaces” that include horizontal and vertical courtyards, the design facilitates a seamless flow throughout the various spaces.
The main area in the front building, consisting of a studio on the first floor and a living room on the second, features a portal frame structure. This structural choice eliminates the need for traditional columns and shear walls, thus enhancing the space’s integrity and flexibility. The courtyard placement invites natural light and channels air from the front yard and atrium on the first floor upwards, facilitated by pivoting windows on the third floor, it promotes vertical airflow throughout the building. The atrium is scaled to transform passages into inviting spaces where people can pause, read, or engage in musical activities.
The house employs an environmentally sustainable wooden structure that minimizes site impact during foundation excavation and improves moisture regulation within its wooden internal structures, including columns, beams, and CLT floor slabs/ceilings. This choice harmonizes with the human body’s natural inclinations, with the sensory experience of the materials enhanced by mineral paints and earthen walls.
The design emphasizes the maintainability of the building to ensure its longevity. Maintenance ease is facilitated by accessible spaces under the elevated first floor, while utility lines are strategically placed along the south exterior wall and in a trench below, with trench covers doubling as pavement. In earthquake-prone areas, the building incorporates flexible water hoses and modular bathrooms to mitigate pipeline damage, alongside comprehensive moisture barriers and termite prevention. Access holes and other features are incorporated to simplify long-term maintenance and use.
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Project Location
Address: Taiwan
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
