The project by 2 Books Design studio is a small apartment with an indoor area of merely 36.5 square meters in Taipei City, Taiwan.
The former house owner used the high ceiling layout to accommodate a mezzanine. Although the design allowed more usable floor area, the overall space appeared dark and crowded, creating an uncomfortable feeling of oppression.
"We intend to bring in more natural light as a solution. The light coming in will make the previously small and cramped indoor space appear lighter and less oppressive. Therefore, we removed most of the mezzanine next to the windows and had the mezzanine floor recede to ensure enough vertical space to allow sunlight to enter" explain the architects.
Interior building materials and color schemes were selected in a way that would create an atmosphere of openness and lightness. The service core consisting of stacked birch plywood and cement staircases serves as the main vertical visual of the whole room; the circular storage closet at the entrance serves as the horizontal focal point. The soft and gentle outline of its metallic frame and the staircase handrails combined with the sculptural quality of the hand-troweled plaster demonstrates a delicate, relaxed, minimal, and chaste aesthetic.
