Chih Yi Chen's "Enjoyment of Life": A Masterpiece of Residential Design

Retirement Living Reimagined with Calmness, Modesty, and Thoughtful Details

The design was inspired by the transition into retirement, a phase that often requires a more stable and introverted living environment. Chen has masterfully integrated the occupants' personality and temperament into the living space, creating a design that exudes calmness and modesty. The details of the design are thoughtfully conceived, anticipating the possible needs of the occupants in the decades to come.

What sets "Enjoyment of Life" apart from other residential designs is its unique spatial circulation, re-planned based on the living habits of the occupants. The open-plan living room, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom with dressing room and master bathroom, a second bedroom with bathroom, and a secondary bedroom are all seamlessly integrated. The design also includes an entrance cabinet and shoe stool with independent lighting, ensuring ease of entry and exit.

The design was realized using floor tiles in the dust-fall area of the entrance for easy maintenance and cleaning. The turning points of the wall cabinets in the entrance compartment and the walls of the open dining hall into the corridor are all trimmed with arc angles to minimize the probability of collision and injury caused by the moving line.

The open public space is dominated by grey, white, and dark brown colours. The areas that often need to be cleaned, such as the entrance and kitchen, are laid with white floor tiles. The dark brown wood veneer pattern of the entrance and dining room wall cabinets echoes the living room floor and storage display cabinet. The dark grey kitchen utensils in the kitchen are connected with the main stone-patterned TV wall in the living room and the light grey cloth sofa.

The project, completed in May 2022 in Taipei City, Taiwan, faced several design challenges. The most significant was the treatment of the ceiling and curved edges that spanned between the guest and dining rooms and the cross beams running vertically through the kitchen and above the corridor. Chen ingeniously used lighting strips hidden in the ceiling from the dining room to the corridor to weaken the gap at the top space. The visual abruptness of the thick beam was then accurately decorated with light and shadow.

The "Enjoyment of Life" project is a testament to Chih Yi Chen's ability to create a living space that not only meets the practical needs of its occupants but also reflects their personality and temperament. It is a design that truly embodies the joy and tranquility of retirement living.