night market

Taipei, Taiwan

fall 2019

Now a part of the vernacular of Taipei, steel and sheet metal cages added to the windows, balconies and to the roof of apartments increase house sqm to  respond  to the exponentially growing real-estate prices in the hyper-condensed urban condition of the city. However they have come to be deemed to be ‘eye-sores’ and illegal. With such arguments, the Taiwanese government dismantles these additions, without addressing the underlying issue of shortage of affordable living spaces. 

Though also technically illegal, the vernacular night markets in Taipei are one of the biggest attractions of the city, generating a substantial amount of revenue, and thus are ‘overlooked’ by the government. Drawing inspiration from the spatio-temporally performative practice of the night market, this project proposes to turn the facades full of cages into a vertical nightmarket-scape, making use of the material and scalar similarities of both typologies. 

At night, the cages unfold to connect static pieces of staircases added on, and balconies light up as night market stalls. They do not only provide a new method of generating income and connectivity for the residents, they also challenge the existing socio-economically aesthetic perception of the balcony additions, giving them a chance at beauty.

Advisors: Jimenez Lai, Mark Acciari