The Living Archive

Once dark and compressed, the ground floor of this fifty-year-old Tainan house now serves as an interior design studio. Removing a 6.6-square-metre mezzanine transformed a 1.9-metre-high service zone into a four-metre-high material lab. Samples can be replaced as new products arrive, while a luminous ceiling with adjustable colour temperature allows clients to compare finishes under warmer and cooler light similar to the conditions in their homes.

At the front, a metal enclosure was removed to recover a courtyard and daylight without enlarging the original window. The terrazzo staircase, metal balustrade, patterned-glass windows, wrought-iron gate and red entrance tiles remain in daily use.

The result is a living archive: an old house that continues to gather new materials, light conditions and design decisions rather than being frozen in nostalgia.