As always by no means intimidated by eloquent architectural gesture standing as a new, disruptive landmark in the context of intervention, MVRDV recently presented its first housing project in Taiwan. “Out of the Box” is the 25-storey residential tower, currently being designed, in Tianmu, a district north of Taipei characterised by a medium-low rise building, over which the new architectural object stands with the bold yet captivating nonchalance of an urban totem.

The building is characterised by a rigorous structural grid clad in marble from which emerge, almost animated by a life of their own, cantilevered box-like volumes forming loggias, single- or double-height balconies, combined loggia-balconies, terraces and additional interior spaces to compose an articulated plan-volumetric pattern.

If in planimetry the 93 flats are distributed according to a reduced number of repeated typologies, the addition of the "boxes’" on the façade determines various possible configurations following a logic of maximum exploitation of the available space, enhancement of the panoramic views and internal micro-climatic comfort, thanks to the study of the orientation of the building.

As Winy Maas, MVRDV founding partner and guest editor 2019 at Domus, states: “considering this building’s location and its low-rise neighbours, we knew that this would be a building for viewing, something to see, and something to see from. How could we express that in our design? The boxes popping out from the building signify this quality. They literally reach out into the surroundings, providing ideal lookout platforms to see the mountains and the city. From the street, they form distinctive, eye-catching features for passers-by”.

The project also includes a new commercial building along Zhongshan Road, volumetrically conforming to the surrounding buildings but formally legible as part of the new intervention, and the landscaping of open spaces.