J.C. Architecture's JCA Living Lab in Taipei wins World Interior of the Year 2019

After a final showdown between the nine category winners at the INSIDE World Festival of Interiors in Amsterdam, the JCA Living Lab by J.C. Architecture won the grand prize as the 2019 World Interior of the Year. Yesterday, the judges described the project as a “laboratory for future living” and selected it as the competition's Residential category winner.

Located in Taipei, the JCA Living Lab is a regenerated Japanese Colonial house that embraces its history while accommodating the modern-living needs of its residents. 

The house combines traditional craftsmanship with modern detailing, like the circular light that hangs from the roof of the living room, against a backdrop of preserved materials. A roof skylight shapes a path that acts as a guide for the house.

The configuration of the house was designed to be adaptable. Communal spaces like a kitchen, living room, and flexible areas for group gatherings were all added. Designed as a space to foster joyful living, the house also incorporates spaces for the residents' children to run around, while also providing room for respite.

The INSIDE judges praised the JCA Living Lab for how it “is unusually in tune with the differing and sometimes contradictory needs of a young family. Every space can be negotiated and adapted, encouraging the house to be an incubator for positive difference in the family unit.”

“Local craftspeople were drafted in when needed and recycled elements were mixed freely with new,” they added. “Ladders to the roof level encourage ongoing hide and seek. Internal space leaks into a garden, itself an outdoor room, whilst light penetrates in unexpected ways and occasional views of the sky offset the otherwise congested urban setting. Against the background of rapid development in Taipei, this project has the potential to be a 'prototype' that may help re-evaluate the existing stock of Japanese houses.”

OHLAB's CAN BORDOY, a 24-room hotel in Palma de Mallorca, and Classroom Makeover for the Blind by Creative Crews in Pattaya, Thailand were highly commended for the World Interior of the Year award.

Over at the World Architecture Festival, which coincides with the INSIDE Festival, the LocHal Public Library was named as the 2019 World Building of the Year. In 2020, INSIDE World Festival of Interiors will reconvene in Lisbon.