The Villa is articulated as a "Vertical Overlap" as the main entry into the house is from the lower level garage. The stairs from the garage emerge through the pool at the garden level and enable the Owner to experience a sense of purification and transition as it leaves the hustle of the business world behind and enters into his Domestic Retreat.
The Pool, symbol of Life and Purity, extends into the inner courtyard, where a solitary tree is planted, as a center and pivot for the house upper levels rotation and splitting. The villa in Taiwan explores the idea of a "double void" via the means of a reflective pool which transports the exterior front of the house into the inner courtyard of the villa.
The house, which is located on a sloped site is experienced vertically through a set of stairs which connect the lower garage level to the garden entry emerging through the water of the front pool. This intimate relationship with water produces a "translucent" effect of progressive discovery of the house presence, imitating a deeper "purifying" ritual important for the Taiwanese culture. The house is carved and exposed around the ground waters on the garden level, but becomes progressively internalized and visually selective on the second floor private bedrooms. Materials and apertures all reflect this "progressive translucency" and allow the house the e-merge from its immediate context.
