In Tianmu, one of Taipei’s northernmost neighborhoods, MVRDV’s Out of the Box residential tower emerges as a dynamic intervention in an urban landscape marked by low- to mid-rise buildings and a clear view of the Yangmingshan mountains. This 25 story tower is positioned along Zhongshan North Road, the primary arterial connection linking downtown Taipei to its northern districts. With a striking presence defined by a marble-clad grid and an intricate interplay of cantilevered volumes, the tower reimagines the spatial possibilities of urban housing within a tightly regulated environment.
Out of the Box Technical Information
- Architects1-15: MVRDV
- Location: Tianmu, Taipei, Taiwan
- Gross Area: 12,025 m2 | 129,436 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2019 – Ongoing
- Images: © MVRDV
The boxes popping out from the building signify this quality. They literally reach out into the surroundings, providing ideal lookout platforms to see the mountains and the city.
– Winy Maas, MVRDV Founding Partner
Out of the Box Photographs
Design Intent and Architectural Expression
Out of the Box represents MVRDV’s first residential project in Taiwan, extending their earlier contributions to public spaces such as Tainan Spring and Tainan Market. The practice explores the tension between strict building codes and the demand for dynamic, individualized living environments. The project contributes a new landmark to the neighborhood’s evolving identity and prompts a broader conversation on how architecture can negotiate standardization and variation in dense urban contexts.
MVRDV’s design approach for Out of the Box was driven by an extensive study of Taiwanese building regulations, which impose detailed definitions and limitations on various types of outdoor spaces. The architects conducted a rigorous cross-referencing of these rules, resulting in a catalog of cantilevered volumes that reinterpret balconies, loggias, and terraces as integral components of the building’s spatial language. The resultant composition is a grid containing and releasing these volumes, generating a lively dialogue between the structured marble frame and the freeform projections.
The gridded façade, clad in marble, serves as a canvas for this dynamic interplay. The projecting boxes disrupt the strict geometry, reaching outward into the urban context. Each cantilever responds to regulatory conditions and environmental factors such as sunlight and prevailing views. Digital scripting facilitated this negotiation, allowing MVRDV to strategically locate each projection while respecting building codes and maximizing the experiential qualities of the spaces within.
The boxes, some extending up to six metres, embody the project’s dual ambitions: to provide lookout platforms for residents and to create a visually engaging presence for passers-by. The tower’s geometry thus becomes a direct expression of the local context, with the projections opening towards both the distant mountain landscape and the immediate urban environment.
Spatial Organization and Material Strategy
At the heart of the project lies a commitment to reconciling standardized apartment types with the demand for spatial diversity. While the building’s floorplates adhere to a small set of repeating layouts, the varied configurations of the cantilevered volumes introduce subtle shifts in plan and perspective across the tower’s 93 apartments. The interior extensions created by the boxes produce double-height balconies in duplex units, deep loggias in single-story apartments, and hybrid spaces that blur the line between interior and exterior.
This modulation of living spaces invites a variety of experiences: shaded loggias that provide a retreat from the sun, fully open balconies that frame city and mountain views, and transitional zones that expand the sense of inhabitable space. The careful calibration of these volumes reflects a nuanced understanding of how outdoor space can enrich urban living.
The material palette reinforces this spatial dialogue. The marble cladding lends a sense of permanence and quiet dignity to the grid, while the boxes introduce moments of transparency and lightness. Together, these materials create a tactile rhythm across the façade, balancing solidity and permeability in a manner that resonates with the surrounding urban fabric.
Out of the Box Cultural Significance
The impact of Out of the Box extends beyond its sculptural form. As a new landmark within Tianmu’s relatively low-rise landscape, the tower’s silhouette acts as a marker for the district’s gradual urban evolution. Its visual prominence is balanced by the ground-level interventions that engage the immediate street context. The extension of the streetscape through a new building along Zhongshan North Road respects the existing roofline and façade line, maintaining continuity while introducing a fresh architectural language.
Equally important is the project’s contribution to the public realm. Existing shop owners along Zhongshan Road will find new spaces integrated within the ground floor, ensuring that the project supports local commerce and community life. At the tower’s base, landscaping and a residents’ swimming pool blend into a small green park that weaves the building and its surroundings together. The communal rooftop terrace completes this layered approach to outdoor living, providing a shared platform for residents to engage with the skyline and the distant mountains.
Out of the Box exemplifies responsive, context-driven architecture that acknowledges regulatory constraints while expanding the possibilities for urban dwellings. MVRDV’s design asserts that even in dense and tightly controlled environments, architecture can craft spaces that are at once personal and collective and attuned to the broader cultural and environmental landscape.
Out of the Box Plans
Out of the Box Image Gallery
About MVRDV
MVRDV is a globally renowned architectural practice based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries. Known for their experimental and context-sensitive approach, MVRDV’s work spans architecture, urbanism, and landscape design, consistently pushing boundaries with innovative spatial strategies and vibrant formal languages. Their projects, ranging from housing and cultural buildings to large-scale urban plans, demonstrate a commitment to social engagement and sustainable development, making them a pivotal force in contemporary architecture.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Client: WinSing Development
- Program: Residential and Retail
- Sustainability Certification: EEWH Silver Credits
- Founding Partner in Charge: Winy Maas
- Partner: Wenchian Shi
- Director: Gideon Maasland
- Head of Taiwan: Hui Hsin Liao
- Design Team: Cosimo Scotucci, Mirco Facchinelli, Yi-Chien Liao, Chi Yi Liao, Amanda Galiana Ortega, Daniel Diez, Alberto Menozzi, Rongting Xiao
- Visualizations: Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Luca Piattelli, Jaroslaw Jeda, Pavlos Ventouris
- Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries
- Co-architect: TAO Architects and Planners
- Landscape Architect: Horizon&Atmosphere Landscape Co. Ltd.
- Structural Engineer: Envision Engineering Consultants Co. Ltd.
- Environmental Advisor: Taiwan Green Architecture Design Consultants
- Lighting Designer: chroma33 Architectural Lighting Design
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