Jupei Project By Vattier Design
Location Jubei city,Taiwan
Area 700m2
This is a housing unit merging the 14th, 15, and 16th floors of a high-end apartment building in a bustling downtown area. The owner discreetly bought these three apartment units to enjoy the convenience of the location and the safe hotel-style property management services of the building. He hoped that the designer could create the feeling of a modern villa. Thus, the greatest challenge for the design was how to effectively connect the three floors without damaging the beams and columns of the building, maintain a consistent ambience in the spatial design of the three floors, and create the open and permeating feeling of a villa in the space vertically and horizontally.
The first topic that the designer spoke of was finding the most appropriate location for the stairwell connecting the entire space vertically. Without being able to most the beams and columns in the high building, this became a relatively tough challenge.
After some careful thinking and simulation, the designer created a ten-meter-tall space with a very modern black steel staircase to effectively and interestingly connect the entire space. Aside from the vertical connections, the designer also established horizontal connections using space function configurations and a transparent glass opening to maximize the vertical and horizontal open feeling of the common areas in the living space.
An eight-meter tall white stone wall was placed in the stairwell to present a virtual-real contrast with the transparent glass opening. The white stone wall also contrasted sharply with the black staircase, thereby giving the staircase with modern structure and lines a greater presence.
The designer also hung sculptural pendant lights at staggered heights from the top ceiling of the stairwell to give the residents views at different angles and levels during the day or night whether they are moving up and down the stairs or simply standing at a fixed spot.
Looking up or down, residents will find interesting spatial views on different floors and even forget that they are in an apartment building. I think that the designer has succeeded in creating a villa within a building.
