Chen House | Marco Casagrande

Chen House, image courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, image courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House by Finnish architect Marco Casagrande and Frank Chen. It was built as a shelter for farmers on an old japanese cherry farm in the Datun mountains of North-Taiwan.

+ Project description courtesy of Marco Casagrande

The house is realized on an old Japanese cherry-farm in the Datun – mountains of North-Taiwan. It is designed as a vessel to react on the demanding wind, flooding and heat conditions on the site.

Chen House, image courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, image courtesy of Marco Casagrande

The house is a stick raised above the ground in order to let the flood waters run under it. The different spaces are connected to a flexible movement within the axis of outdoor and indoor functions.

Chen House, image courtesy of Marco Casagrande

The smaller bathroom and kitchen unit acts as a kicker stabilizing the wooden structure during the frequent typhoons and earthquakes.

Chen House, image courtesy of Marco Casagrande

The bio-climatic architecture is designed to catch the cool breeze from the Datun – river during the hot days and to let in the small winds circulating on the site between the fresh water reservoir pond and the farmlands. A fire place is used during the winter for heating and for cooking tea. In connection with the bathroom is a small sauna.

The house is not strong or heavy – it is weak and flexible. It is also not closing the environment out, but designed to give the farmers a needed shelter.

Ruin is when man-made has become part of nature. With this house we were looking forward to design a ruin.

Chen House, site plan courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, ground floor plan courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, roof plan courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, North facade courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, East facade courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, South facade courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, West facade courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, section A-A courtesy of Marco Casagrande

Chen House, section B-B courtesy of Marco Casagrande

+ Project credits / data

Architects C-Laboratory:  Marco Casagrande + Frank Chen
Construction work:  Marco Casagrande, Frank Chen, Shi-Ding Chen, Nikita Wu, Shu-Gi Bai
Local Knowledge:  Missis Lee

Location: Sanjhih, Taipei County, Taiwan
Site: 3890 m2 farm land, Datun Mountains
Building foot print: 138 m2
Interior space: 62,5 m2
Materials: mahogany, concrete
Completed: 2008

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Marco Casagrande | Photo by AdDa