ZEN-LIKE
REDUCTIVE
PLASTER & PLY
Project Name: Plaster & Ply Project Type: Single-Family Apartment Location: Taipei, Taiwan Floor Area: 40 m² Completion Year: 2020 Design Team: Daniel Yao, Jarrett Boor, Bing-Yu Yu
Designed to be carefully reductive, the “Plaster and Ply” residence is an urban respite for a couple working part of the year in Taipei, Taiwan. Paperfarm chose to utilize two textures (plywood and Venetian plaster) to balance a loft-like openness with warmth and serenity, perfect for working, entertaining and living. The New York City based couple desired a better use for their 1-bedroom, 40sqm cookie-cutter condo, which, when purchased, had a tiny and dark enclosed kitchen, small dining area and unsuitable bedroom that needed to function as a work-from-home space for extended stays in Taiwan.
“We felt the need for flexibility in how to use the spaces, but didn’t want things to feel tech-y or trendy. The ultimate desire was a public/private flexibility that didn’t reduce any of the valuable space with zones that weren’t able to be utilized at all times”, Paperfarm states. Reducing the formal separation of spaces, which we called ”poetic thresholds”, visual divisions were designed. By using a minimal palette of mainly two materials (plywood and Venetian plaster) also enlarged the look and feel of the apartment. Custom designed millwork incorporated storage, furniture surfaces, work space and cooking without feeling plain or too simplistic. Paired with an elegant, concrete-like floor, and exposed ceiling, referencing the clients love of their NYC home, a venetian plaster wall acts as the only permanent division between purely public and private parts of the apartment. A single floor-to-ceiling curtain is able to be used to have intimate dining and entertaining without seeing the utility of the kitchen and also can block out the night-time, highly frenetic lights and sounds of bustling Taipei. Passing through the plaster wall into the fully private zone (bedroom, storage, bathroom) the material palette reduces ever so slightly to a zen-like white, wood, and soft grey.
PLY WOOD
LOFT-LIKE