Project Overview

“The Satoyama Initiative” is a global initiative based on the concept of Satoyama — a traditional rural landscape in Japan. The initiative promotes the integration of conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity in production landscapes outside of protected areas. This is a project residential design project located in the downtown business area. Due to urbanization, the concrete jungle is all around, and citizens have been deprived of the beautiful greenery and nature. Therefore, the architect has decided to bring nature into the neighborhood and life. The goal is to provide residents with fresh air and natural greenery so that they can live an enjoyable and exciting life.

Organisation

Micro Principle Interior Design Studio (MPIDS)

Team

Hsu Li-Jen, Chiang Chih-Chang (CCCAA Architecture+ Design)

Project Brief

At the beginning of the design, the designer has set the "Sato,” the village, as the core of its brainstorming process. The lane around the building is compared to a small mountain path, and the building becomes the image of a mountain so that when people return home, it is as refreshing and exciting as walking into a forest.

Project Innovation/Need

The exterior of the building is set on white, with the addition of gray frames and wooden lines to disclose a sense of three-dimensionality and rich layers. Moreover, the architects deliberately set up a landscaped terrace on each floor to introduce more greenery and sunlight into the living space. To elaborate, the designer has planned the vegetation vertically, so it stands between the fair-faced concrete walls, making people feel like they are somewhere in a forest. The scene is sensational and full of surprises, and the building creates a dialogue between nature, architecture, and life, giving the residents a nurturing vitality.

Design Challenge

For this project, the designer has resourcefully implemented the Satoyama Initiative into the architecture, allowing citizens living a fast-paced life to enjoy nature's tranquillity and magical comfort. Though dealing with such disadvantaged base conditions, the architect still manages to utilize the building’s traits and vertical development and turn the skylight into the main concentration of the project. Surprisingly, it has provided the building with magical spatial expression. With the designer’s human-oriented approach, nature is introduced to the maximum extent into the living area, and the ideal and enjoyable space for the residents is successfully constructed.

Sustainability

To the architects, the cost of construction is not the primary consideration in the face of ecological sustainability, but rather the real pursuit of providing the users with an excellent living environment and activity space. Through the architect's careful planning, green plants are arranged on the balcony and roof of each floor to realize the concept of vertical greening, beautifying the urban streetscape, and easing the urban heat island effect. By absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, the plants slow down the greenhouse effect, purify the air and realize the idea of environmental protection.