A Stunning Apartment Renovation in Taipei Embracing Transparency by StudioX4

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

Completed in 2020, “Transparency” is a striking apartment renovation in Taipei, masterfully executed by Taiwanese architecture firm StudioX4. The project skillfully melds traditional Chinese cultural elements with contemporary modern design, resulting in a harmonious and visually captivating living space. By integrating natural materials, open layouts, and ample natural light, StudioX4 has created a refreshing and inviting atmosphere that pays homage to the past while embracing the future.

Transparency Apartment Technical Information

• Architects: StudioX4
• Design Team: Li Yu Cheng, YuCheng Chen, YY Yang, A-Ru Tzeng
• Location: Taipei, Taiwan
• Topics: Apartment Renovation, Total Black
• Area: 122 m² (balcony 100m2 not included)
• Project Year: 2020
• Photographs: © YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

Taiwan is a place with complicated histories. Since the migration of KMT to Taiwan in 1949, people lived and mixed with the former Fujian immigrants. After 2 to 3 generations, various cultures integrated. Due to its complexity, sometimes we’re not sure which one we belong to. We are more like the mirror inherently. We switch between different cultures and eventually develop our own one. This is the most distinctive part of culture in Taiwan.

– Li Yu Cheng¹

Transparency Apartment Photographs

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

© YHLAA (Yi-Hsien Lee)

Text by the Architects

Probing connotation beneath visual illusion of linear and geometry.

Massing, shadow, and proportion are crucial to be comprised of architecture interior space.
Reunite the integration of seeming contradictions among curves and angles, yin and yang, steels, and concrete cement. The properties of light, such as opaque and transparency, light transmission, and ambient occlusion, generate visual illusion. Everything exists with adequate fusion. The process of probing metaphysics relations holistically features this residential space.

The wall is a bare container of habitation.

Habitation refers to the way or style of living. The lifestyle sprouted from modernism after the industrial revolution era; nowadays, it evolves in an artful taste, the satisfaction of physical needs bonded with philosophical denotation. The bare minimum of lifestyle encompasses profound thoughts and contexts, which fulfilling minimalism. In this project, the wall, merely setting off lighting, bears kitchen, sanitary, storage, pipes, air-cons, etc., essential fixtures of daily living, and its finishing completes spatial forms and expression.

Transparency House Plans

Floor Plan | © StudioX4

Axonometric View | © StudioX4

Transparency House Video

Transparency House Image Gallery

About Li-Yu Cheng

Li-Yu Cheng is both the Design Director of Studio X4 and a lecturer of the Architecture Department at Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan. Founded in 20120, StudioX4’s mission is to solve problems using everyday experiences and creating authenticity in all his designs.
Other works from StudioX4  

1. Source: Interview with Li-Yu Cheng for MUSE dot WORLD