The Public House
Studio 5: Set to be exhibited at the Biennale in Italy, May 2025
work in progress…
When Professor Brian first described Taiwan as an “Island of Big House made up of small rooms,” the word that resonated most was “House.” Examining our urban block, it’s a mix of buildings at various heights occupied by students, tourists, and locals. Reflecting on the reading Big House, Small State, I was reminded that, as Robin Evans articulated in Figures, Doors and Passages, a core aspect of architecture and urbanism is choreographing distance and contact between people. This led me to the concept of a “Public House”—an approach that respects Taiwan's tradition of promoting health and well-being by carefully managing spatial relationships in dense urban areas.
In developing my program, I envisioned the spaces of a typical home—living room, bathroom, bedroom, dining room, and kitchen—as individual “rooms” dispersed across one part of the block. These areas would be open to the public, creating a self-service space for students, locals, and tourists to interact. Much like a “home away from home,” this arrangement offers new opportunities for social inclusion and diversity, allowing locals to step outside their small apartments into a larger communal space within the block.
The Public House is situated in the southwestern section of the block—the “kitchen”—an underutilized area primarily consisting of the backs of apartment buildings. Activating this neglected space seemed ideal to encourage more vibrant interactions. Some rooms will be located at ground level, while others will be atop existing structures, aligning with the project’s vision of extending beyond traditional property boundaries. This layering respects the existing architecture while reinvigorating the block with new possibilities for connection.
Studio lead by: Brian McGrath
group Site Model
1:200
Site Context
Understanding the city of Tainan history of Dutch trading port, Qing Dynasty settlement and Japanese colonialism through layering the different maps, from the Dutch who built forts and city walls, to the Qing Dynasty that introduced traditional Chinese urban layouts with a focus on temples and administrative buildings, to the Japanese who implemented modern urban planning with railways and roundabouts.
City of Tainan
Block
To gain a clearer understanding of Tainan city and its expansion, we developed two experiential models such as a scaled interactive overlay of maps that allows us to compare the different eras and emphasize the negative spaces within each map, and an experiential model was designed to showcase Tainan's diverse history by featuring structures like a Dutch-era government building, a traditional temple, and a street market. The model, inspired by a Rubik's Cube, allows users to mix and explore these historical periods interactively.
