Taipei-ness — C-H Lab

C-H Lab

Taipei-ness

May 2025

(n./adj.) A combination of casualness, playfulness and a sense of weirdness.

So-called Taipei-ness refers to the distinctive ways people in Taipei engage with and transform space. Before adapting or reusing these buildings, the primary task is to understand the intertwined spatial relationships that have evolved from the original design through layers of informal modifications. This dynamic is shaped by a mutual influence between people and space-where users alter spatial functions and meanings over time, and in turn, the spatial conditions shape behavior. These trans-formations are driven by multiple factors: historical context, environmental conditions (like Taipei's humid climate), commonly used materials, and the inventive re-appropriation of everyday objects -all of which contribute to the emergence of new spatial forms.

Catalog of Taipei’s Characteristics

Objects scattered around the street

Organic growth from the existing

Small vegetations around the buildings

High-rise ruined the existing urban fabric

Taipei’s history of development

Aging houses problem in Taiwan

Taipei is facing the urban renewal challenge

Maintenance area in Taipei follows the city axis

Gaps in existing law & regulations and missing dimensions of scale

Factors in transformation process

As one of Taiwan’s earliest developed cities, Taipei now faces a critical moment in its urban evolution. Many buildings are in urgent need of renewal due to age and the cumulative effects of seismic activity. However, even if all construction capacity were redirected from new developments to focus solely on renovation, it would still fall short of keeping pace with the accelerating rate of building decay.

Currently, most urban renewal projects in Taipei follow a demolish-and-rebuild model. This approach, while efficient in appearance, comes at a high cultural cost—it erases the unique characteristics that define “Taipei-ness,” threatening the city’s rich and layered urban fabric. The existing regulatory framework fails to provide meaningful alternatives; it tends to polarize between total demolition or superficial maintenance that barely scratches the surface of true renewal.

Taipei’s character is not the result of a single masterplan, but rather an outcome of layered accumulation and continuous transformation. It reflects the evolving desires, improvisations, and adaptations of its residents over time. Each space becomes a physical record of everyday life—a projection of lived-in values and personal agency—revealing, often unapologetically, the traits and rhythms of its people. This urban texture, messy yet meaningful, is precisely what gives Taipei its identity. To erase it through standardized renewal is to erase the memory embedded in its built environment.

Sites of Interest :

The Janus-faced
Stacker
Mediator

New Design & Architecture (KADK Graduation Exhibition)

Taipei Street Photo credits to Jerry Hung

By Caleb Huang

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