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The fusion of courtyard and valley imagery creates an integrated indoor and outdoor living experience.

Release Time:

2025-10-10

The fusion of courtyard and valley imagery creates an integrated indoor and outdoor living experience.

This project is located in Taichung and was completed through a collaboration between Ray Architects and Soar Design Studio. It has a total construction area of 338㎡ and was completed in 2024. The design team aims to deeply integrate the residence with nature through a "deconstructive" architectural approach, exploring new possibilities for detached houses on Taiwan's narrow plots.

Traditional elongated houses often lack front-to-back transparency, making it easy to become disconnected from the natural environment. This project breaks the building into five staggered volumes and creates multi-layered spaces and gaps through horizontal and vertical interweaving. Natural elements such as light, wind, and vegetation permeate throughout, making the building seem like a combination of "valley" and "courtyard."

The site is close to other buildings, with windows only at the front and back, directly facing the cold and humid northeast wind. The design places vertical circulation within the first volume and moves the main living spaces backward to reduce the adverse effects of cold wind and moisture. The southwest side lowers the height to welcome the comfortable southwest wind, and by narrowing wind channels and accelerating wind speed, air flows through the courtyard and interior, creating a favorable microclimate.

The recession and excavation of the building volumes form permeable semi-outdoor spaces. As people walk through, they can experience the "stepping and changing scenes" characteristic of Eastern gardens.

The gradually receding balconies resemble layered valleys, becoming a shared habitat for wind, trees, and people; the indoor gaps echo the courtyard, allowing residents to feel the natural wind and light even when indoors.

Service spaces are concentrated in the first and fourth buildings; the second and third buildings house multi-layered living functions such as a tea room, study, dining room, and reading space; the last building's bedrooms are private and quiet, enjoying the southwest wind and views of the "internal valley."

The balconies are planted with a variety of trees, creating rich natural color layers with changes in height, showcasing the natural flow between indoors and outdoors.

This residence breaks through the limitations of the traditional "concrete box" through deconstruction, creating a spatial experience that is both connected and independent. It not only proposes a new paradigm for detached houses in Taichung but also offers new solutions for multi-generational living, closely intertwining nature and life.