The Taichung Villa

Taichung, Taiwan

Some clients know exactly who they are. This one arrived with a complete vision — European classical, unapologetically formal, warm rather than cold — and the work was to make that vision architecturally coherent across every surface.

The travertine TV wall sets the register immediately: large-format stone panels with natural pitting and vein lines, no console, no clutter. Just the material and the music — a pair of Wharfedale floor-standing towers flank the wall like sentinels, making clear that sound is as considered here as anything visual.

The hallway earns its own attention. Full-height white boiserie lines both walls from floor to ceiling; a coffered ceiling with concealed cove lighting turns the corridor into something closer to a Parisian passage than a domestic thoroughfare. A diamond-beveled mirror wall at the far end extends it further. You don’t pass through this hallway — you arrive.

The dining room takes the same logic: a mirror-grid partition with white-painted mullions doubles the room, doubles the light, and doubles the floral arrangement — abundant pink amaryllis in black ceramic vases, the contrast doing all the work without a single unnecessary object.

Throughout, the material and furniture choices share a consistent grammar: carved silver-leaf wood frames on cognac leather, brass knob hardware on white raised-panel cabinetry, a classical sculpture beside the television, a Renaissance portrait printed on satin. The client’s taste is specific and the design serves it without editorializing.