Ancestral Residence

City / taipei
Year / 2018
Photographer / Lee Guomin
From / Radius interior design

The homeowner stated that the building, constructed by the grandpa, brick by brick, is teeming with memories of three generations, hoping that
the nearly hundred-year-old ancestral residence could be passed down from generation to generation.

With the old house that has been handed down, we contemplated on how to retain the memories as well as catering to the daily needs and lifestyles
today. We stripped it down to the original layout, adding a light touch with plain materials. “Bareness” has become our core concept in planning this
ancestral residence.

The building itself is a long, narrow, four-story construction with single-sided natural light and excessively long circulation. First, the locations of the
main stairs and elevator were set, with iron plates serving as the stair structure and the treads perforated to let vertical light in. This being the center,
the space and circulation on each floor were laid out.

We hope to pass on the memories of three generations in going upstairs in the excess vertical space. As the ancient house was mainly built with
red brick walls, we cut and removed the surface material of the stair walls on the first and second floors, baring the red brick structure, to retain its
original look as our design origin. The initial texture of the overall building materials was preserved, new and old echoing each other in time and space.