dotze innovations studio redefines chinese courtyard in taiwanese house

when taking over a new project, dotze innovations studio intends to represent groundbreaking ideas and to narrate rich stories. located in changhua, taiwan, ‘courtyard house’ is an ambitious project for a three-generation family, situated on the roof of an existing one-story factory building. the initial design idea was to create a contemporary chinese courtyard house with a 回-shaped volume, where the living room is located in the middle of the patio and the bedrooms surround it.

the house is hidden behind this hollow blockwork 

the architectural result by dotze innovation studio is a layout with individual living units and shared family spaces connected by a looped corridor and separated by small light wells. each corner of the building has been equipped with sky-voids to provide the interiors with natural lighting and ventilation—each one has been designed as a small courtyard. each room has a private garden view, created for the occupant’s pleasure while blurring the visual boundary between inside and outside.

this project aims to redefine a modern chinese courtyard house and to explore how space can be divided individually but stay closely connected.

entrance with water on the side 

dining and kitchen

view from the kitchen to the entrance

a corridor around the courtyard connects the individual rooms 

each bedroom shares a corner of the central patio

the bedroom has been equipped with ventilation towers on the ceiling

the living room is located at the center of the courtyard

external view from the factory entrance

design diagram 

floor plan

project info:

architects: tze-chun wei / dotze innovations studio
project location: taiwan
completion year: 2014
gross built area: 1132m2
photo credits: tze-chun wei

collaborators: arjr architects, itemdesign, ospace architects
design team: zhi-rui haung、chi-fung yeh 、zhe-xun yang、chun-li wang
contractor: tze-chun wei、arjr architects
structural engineer: wu-long huang
interior design: tze-chun wei
lighting design: vivie lin
construction consultants: zhi-rui haung, yu-cheng tang

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: juliana neira | designboom