Located in Northeast Tainan, Y House looks set to become the focal point of a new residential development that will become a weekend retreat for city workers. The 330 m2 villa looks on its surroundings with living spaces raised onto a four-floor stem. A private rooftop swimming pool takes prime location, cradled in the dip of the Y-shape of the building. The proposal gives an identity to an otherwise nondescript site, standing out amongst the rest, and marking the development from a distance.
Approximatelya 40-minute drive from Tainan City and the sea, the design of the villa derives from the optimum volume for the house but then raises the living spaces to give residents prime views over the surrounding landscape, rather than their next-door neighbour's fence. The more communal spaces of the house – the living and dining rooms – are given priority in the top of the volume, which is bent into a Y shape to form the private swimming pool. Below this, bedrooms including; two children's rooms, a master bedroom and a guest bedroom, are stacked above a ground-level tea room meant for entertaining guests. Both stairs and a lift give access throughout the house.
Y House sits within a tranquil pool with small gardens and stepping-stone pathways, the positioning and orientation of which is all arranged according to the practice of Feng Shui. Large, circular windows puncture the concrete shell of the building giving light and airy interiors without interrupting the Y shape of the villa. In the top volume, the dining space is sandwiched between two tribunes which not only provide access to the solarium and changing rooms before leading up to the rooftop pool but give extra storage and spaces on which to relax. Even here windows are cut, looking both down into the calm pool below and up to the one above; letting the dappled light shine into the living room that floats above the dining area.
| Fact File | |
| Project Name: | Y House |
| Location: | Tainan, Taiwan |
| Year: | 2014+ |
| Client: | Wonders Information Co. Ltd. |
| Size & Programme: | 330m2 private residence |
| Structural engineers: | Envision Engineering Consultants |
| Photographs: | MVRDV |
Y House's distinct concrete façade with circular window openings creates a light-filled experience with its furniture integrated fully into interior spaces, that is, stairs merging with living deck, and a concrete roof evoking sculptural elements.
MVRDV was set up in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. Its unique approach to design range from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, publications, installations and exhibitions. The work of MVRDV has received numerous international awards. MVRDV works with BIM and has official in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors. Together with Delft University of Technology, it runs The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute providing an agenda for architecture and urbanism by envisioning the city of the future.
MVRDV's current projects include housing projects in the Netherlands, France, China, India, and other countries; a public art depot in Rotterdam, the transformation of a mixed use building in central Paris, an office complex in Shanghai, and a commercial centre in Beijing, a transformed elevated highway into a public park called Skygarden and the dual entertainment facility Paradise city, both in Seoul.MVRDV is also working on large scale urban masterplans in Bordeaux and Caen, France and Glasgow, Scotland. Larger scale visions for the future of greater Paris, greater Oslo, and the doubling in size of the Dutch new town Almere are also in development.
