Tai Quan Palace Office Space

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The decoration style and techniques of the project are beyond the existing practice, trying to create a new harmonious aesthetics with contradictory elements in a limited space. The design team used gold foil and manually pasted the entire space surface with luxurious yet low-keyed gold color to the Chinese style corridor. Thereafter, looked for woodworkers to make traditional Chinese double doors, Mortise and tenon joints, bringing the best effort to make the entire space without ambiguity.

Dimensions & Packaging

Tai Quan Palace is not just a visual experiment. In terms of living functions, the Chinese corridor entrance is designed with barrier-free ramp, which solves the height difference on the raised floor area. In order to connect the Chinese style on the outside and simplicity of European and American style on the inside, the floor tiles are gradually decreasing to create a progressive connection effect. As the line of sight extends to the end of the space, the design team replaced the solid partition with full glass to separate the space. While enlarging the vision, it is also an interesting attempt to make the space into a painting.

Tags

Traditional Chinese Architecture, Chinese and Western combination, Hand-glued gold foil, Modernism, Office Space

Production Technology

As the main point of the Chinese style corridor, the design team used 26,000 pieces of gold foil, which was manually pasted to the entire wall surface after applying primer to replace the modern feeling of paint. Mortise and tenon joints, the Chinese double doors and door nails, are specially made by the woodworkers. On the contrary, the office space is relatively simple, which is decorated with details of different materials such as iron and copper. The gold color is used to portray the outline of the space, making a connection in a contrast differences.

Design Challenge

The palace-like entrance corridor breaks the common perception about office, and it is also technically very different with the office in the past. Whether the traditional Chinese double doors with embedded door nails on it, Mortise and tenon joints, a progressive porch tiles, while at the same time a lot of communication and discussion with the technicians are needed for the design execution.

Project Duration

This project was completed in December 30th, 2019 in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Operation Flow

The overall design style is pushed to the extreme. Many seemingly like contrasting elements, whether it is the combination of Chinese and Western cultures, different materials, or the use of single color, which are some rare attempt to be found in commercial space. So, rather than compromising, the design team integrated the conflicting elements in an eclectic way. It is better to say that the design team retains the unique characteristics of each element to the maximum extent within the acceptable range.

Research

The overall design style derived from the design team concern on the importance of their own tradition and the spirit of reminiscent. Adopting a strong traditional Chinese architectural style to create an ancient-palace-like entry corridor. Using hand-glued gold foil instead of common paint to show the timeless richness. The interior space is based on all white walls, cabinets, desks and chairs, and decorated with beautiful details such as door frames, lamp holders and Chinese cultural elements. Write the design intention between tangible and intangible.

Inspiration

The designer upholds the fundamental idea of not forgetting own culture and quoting the traditional Chinese style as the main axis of the design and present the common classical elements one by one. A bold and no-hesitation design vocabulary are implemented, hoping that whoever enters the space may have the sense of acceptance, not just as a visitor but as a guest, who is well received. The style is quite different, but it creates a new balance with the extreme, which is the contradictory balance that the design team wants to try.

Image Credits

Chuang-Chieh Chiu, Jan 2019

Colors of Tai Quan Palace Office Space