Architecture Commons^™

Soft Tectonic/Adaptive Joint, Kuo Jui Lai

Architecture Senior Theses

In Taipei, more than 70% of buildings are older than 30 years. 1 The rate of illegal additions to existing buildings (wei zhang jian zhu) in Taipei is over ten percent.2 Excluding legal issues, illegal construction can potentially lead to significant safety issues. As a response, the Taiwan government is undergoing demolitions on illegal additions throughout the city. In recent years, the number of demolished building additions has surpassed the number of that being constructed. Despite this radical effort, Taipei city is finding that illegal additions continue to be a mainstream practice.3 Illegal additions and the issue of renovating old …