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Ant Farm House
Ant Farm House
190號, 士東路, 士林區, 台北市, Taiwan
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Ant Farm House
190號, 士東路, 士林區, 台北市, Taiwan
The site is situated within the protected peripheral area of a national park. The original stone house on site, built from stacked granite blocks in the mid 50s, cannot be demolished by code. Its site coverage is also close to maximum allowable. The only “available” architectural area for the project is relegated between the exterior wall and the roofline of the existing house, which varies between 80 to180cm. Not wanting to merely re-skin the old stone house, XRANGE devised an architectural strategy to “in-fill” the new house onto the old stone structure wherever gaps are available.
XRANGE enveloped a new layer of 80- 177cm wide by 7m high living spaces around an existing indigenous stone house to create an “extreme” new house of outrageous living
proportion. The newly added programs of
pantry, bar, study, library, dog house and bathrooms are new “rooms” averaging
about 4m2 in footprint, but with soaring 7m headroom. Ant farm toys became the spatial model of the super thin house, where sequences of small narrow vertical spaces interlock.
The new addition is constructed out of two steel box-frames that are anchored onto the front and back of the old rusticated stone house. This “sandwiching” design concept gives lateral structural stability to the old
rubble walls built entirely from 40cm thick rough granite blocks which has an otherwise indeterminate or poor seismic performance.
This form strategy creates a “found interior” for the new house from the “internalized
exterior” of the old house. Original windows, doors and air conditioner openings are transformed into actual exterior windows, interior windows, doorways or display cubby holes depending on their location and orientation. Views of surrounding mountains and the city below are revealed through the
overlapping of new/external and old/internal windows. The resulting irregularity gives an
unexpected spatial signature to the house.
Apart from views and privacy, internalizing the old stone house creates a heavy thermal mass for the new house. Coupled with the
expansive grass lawn- a green haven with a view- on the roof top, temperature within the stone house stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Within the old stone walls, the den- a built-in 9m2 upholstered crib nicknamed the “ashtray”- is a favorite party hang out that turns into a movie lounge tray once the black and green leather panels between the living room and the den are drawn.
The 3m2 study is accessed through a set of 7m tall “cross-hatched” wooden doors with
authentic Porsche GT3 exhaust pipes as door handles. Inside this soaring reading space with an entirely upholstered “floor”, there is a work desk and tall transparent Perspex shelves for books and artifacts display.
On the edge of the study are rubber seats that open onto the foyer bar which serves as the main connection space of the house. The foyer bar opens onto a generous deck outside, a third of which is actually a giant operable roof for the 5-car garage below.
The new 4.5 m2 bathroom with an outrageous dimension of 80cm(w) x 550cm(l) x 700cm(h) holds a guest bathroom (1F) and the master shower and tub (2F). The master bath tub is integrated with the wood lining that wraps the entire bathroom section which also extends out onto the 2F balcony decking. Within this
continuous flow of wood hangs the tinted glass box of the master shower. Overhead is a sliver of glass ceiling that creates a seemingly outdoor yet surreal bathing experience suspended in space.
The ant farm house is a multitude of intricate living spaces carved out between the old and
the new houses with a simple and uncluttered clarity that is intentionally kept understated and raw. The exuberant spatial irregularity of the new narrow living spaces resulted in an intimate and modest dwelling without any of the expected convention for luxury.
XRANGE enveloped a new layer of 80- 177cm wide by 7m high living spaces around an existing indigenous stone house to create an “extreme” new house of outrageous living
proportion. The newly added programs of
pantry, bar, study, library, dog house and bathrooms are new “rooms” averaging
about 4m2 in footprint, but with soaring 7m headroom. Ant farm toys became the spatial model of the super thin house, where sequences of small narrow vertical spaces interlock.
The new addition is constructed out of two steel box-frames that are anchored onto the front and back of the old rusticated stone house. This “sandwiching” design concept gives lateral structural stability to the old
rubble walls built entirely from 40cm thick rough granite blocks which has an otherwise indeterminate or poor seismic performance.
This form strategy creates a “found interior” for the new house from the “internalized
exterior” of the old house. Original windows, doors and air conditioner openings are transformed into actual exterior windows, interior windows, doorways or display cubby holes depending on their location and orientation. Views of surrounding mountains and the city below are revealed through the
overlapping of new/external and old/internal windows. The resulting irregularity gives an
unexpected spatial signature to the house.
Apart from views and privacy, internalizing the old stone house creates a heavy thermal mass for the new house. Coupled with the
expansive grass lawn- a green haven with a view- on the roof top, temperature within the stone house stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Within the old stone walls, the den- a built-in 9m2 upholstered crib nicknamed the “ashtray”- is a favorite party hang out that turns into a movie lounge tray once the black and green leather panels between the living room and the den are drawn.
The 3m2 study is accessed through a set of 7m tall “cross-hatched” wooden doors with
authentic Porsche GT3 exhaust pipes as door handles. Inside this soaring reading space with an entirely upholstered “floor”, there is a work desk and tall transparent Perspex shelves for books and artifacts display.
On the edge of the study are rubber seats that open onto the foyer bar which serves as the main connection space of the house. The foyer bar opens onto a generous deck outside, a third of which is actually a giant operable roof for the 5-car garage below.
The new 4.5 m2 bathroom with an outrageous dimension of 80cm(w) x 550cm(l) x 700cm(h) holds a guest bathroom (1F) and the master shower and tub (2F). The master bath tub is integrated with the wood lining that wraps the entire bathroom section which also extends out onto the 2F balcony decking. Within this
continuous flow of wood hangs the tinted glass box of the master shower. Overhead is a sliver of glass ceiling that creates a seemingly outdoor yet surreal bathing experience suspended in space.
The ant farm house is a multitude of intricate living spaces carved out between the old and
the new houses with a simple and uncluttered clarity that is intentionally kept understated and raw. The exuberant spatial irregularity of the new narrow living spaces resulted in an intimate and modest dwelling without any of the expected convention for luxury.
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