Treasure Garden / Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
Treasure Garden / Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel
Text description provided by the architects. In the rapidly growing 7th district of Taichung (Taiwan), Treasure Garden provides lavish living spaces and generous common areas in an elegant Italian fashion, paying homage to the masterful geometrics of Giò Ponti. The architecture and interior design for the latest residential building by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel create a unified design framework with elongated lattice patterns and a contrasting yet delicate color palette with metallic elements. The design concept for the development inserts a clear, unique and figurative residential element at a prime location of the city.
“It is the attention to the quality of the interiors that sets the project apart. For us, it is hard to think about architecture without imagining what the building’s interior is like. The extraordinary light fixture at the entrance, the quality of the furniture and the fittings make all the difference.”
– Antonio Citterio
The residential tower, slightly less than 160 meters in height, has its longer side on the north-south axis, following the shape of the site. Thanks to the unique orientation of its architecture, the building overlooks the adjacent Summer Green Park, opening up the elegant interiors to panoramic views of the city. Through the splitting of the western facade and a slight rotation of the dividing planes, the apartment on the park opens its view towards the city, while the apartment at the back opens directly towards the part in the southern direction. Thus, the arrangement of the residential spaces guarantees the same level of comfort for the two types of apartments found in the typical floor level.
“It was important that we create a high-quality construction with stone–mostly typical to classic houses–but with a contemporary design.”
– Patricia Viel
From an urban standpoint and as an architectural presence in the local context, the project presents itself as an element built by planes, not by volumes. It comprises a series of planes, with areas conceived as residential zones, public spaces, terraces and landscapes. In this network of design parameters, architectural elements become the load-bearing structure in the construction of the overall image of the building, punctuated by solid elements of stone, separate from the glass surfaces of the facades and the balconies.
“It is a design that is born out of the façade. We had three main structural blades and we intervened with glass and windows. It was an immediate reaction, a gesture of a sketch.”
– Antonio Citterio
This new residential tower is characterized by architectural parts of slender and light blades, from ground to sky, covered by a diamond-shaped screen of an elegant and flexible geometry applied both on the façade and inside the communal spaces. The landscape project is based on the definition of a space of clear, defined access. It demarcates a private place, defined towards the outside by a double enclosure with a diamond design, a filtering wall to create a rich, calm and poetic garden, with fruit trees inside, and sculptural trees to mark the automobile access and the entrance.
