Blade Runner to the max, the Kyoto Central Station is a massive urban block topped with a glass roof. Visible in the background are a set of escalators that go up a straight flight of 12 floors. Half way up and next to the escalators, a flight of gargantuan stairs scale 6 floors in one continuous ascent. Vertigo or not, these stairs are difficult to process psychologically, and no one there dare brave these stairs. This has got the be the biggest and most intimidating set of stairs ever.
The inanimate city: this particular urban pocket is for inanimate things: telecom buildings with windows for vents and very dead plants.
A sports center boldly attaches this strange tumorous outcrop onto its facade. An intriguing advertising move (to showcase its program offerings) or a smart use of space? The rock climbing sections truly tranaform its generic host into a much more unique architectural statement.
An LED buddha pavilion where each orange dot of light is one LED-lit buddha. These are actually pray lights (one is lit up when a pray is made with a donation offering) that are commonly seen flanking the Gods as temple friezes or as towering individual pillars. Here, they are secularly applied away from the gods, creating a modern yet mysterious moment.
This nearly 1.5km shot-gun style single lane exit between 2 speedways (heading opposite directions) is definitely the only pleasure one gets from the much un-loved elevated speedways through Taipei. Exhilarating sense of speed and confinement!
Despite the ubiquitous nature of signage and advertising in Taipei, this seamless execution of real space (top right corner), TV space (talking head with subtitles on the 6th floor), and advertising banners (curtain wall) is rare. Below, a view of this building in context.
The Hairpin House snugly tucked and entirely integrated with a hairpin turn in this hilly residential area, with zero buffer between the front wall of the house and asphalt. The headlights of on-coming vehicles would hit right under the eaves. The hairpin corner of the house measures only 1.5m(5ft).
Highway Block: this incredible urban block winds along the 250m (750ft) length of this elevated highway, ending in a tip 1m (3ft) wide. You can’t even see the other end from this vantage point.
A patch of fake grass in disguise (shameful of its contents?) on a bed of real grass at an entry plaza.
