20 architects from all over the world will be meeting in Taiwan.

Their goal is to design 20 houses on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. NEXT-GENE is the name of the project that brings them together to work on a quality residential development designed to be a telescope over the magnificent landscape of the Northeast Coast National Scenic Area, about 50 minutes from Taipei. The masterplan provides an intimate and immediate relationship with the open spaces. At the same time it offers the possibility for a direct comparison among different approaches to architectural research.

The international architects invited to participate are: Yung Ho Chang (China/USA), Julien De Smedt (Denmark), GRAFT (Germany), Akihisa Hirata (Japan), IaN+ (Italy), Kengo Kuma (Japan), Fernando Menis (Spain), Toshiko Mori (Japan/USA), MVRDV (the Netherlands), Hailim Suh (Korea).

The Taiwanese architects are: Shu-Chang Kung, David Chun-Tei Tseng, Kris Yao, Jay Wen-Chieh Chiu, Kyle Chia-kai Yang, Hsueh-Yi Chien, Irving Hung-Hui Huang, Ray Chen, Sheng-Yuan Huang, Yu-Tung Liu. The client is Tai-Nien Lu (President of Genuine Development Asset Management Co. Ltd.), with project coordination by Yu-Tung Liu (Professor at the Graduate Institute of Architecture in National Chiao Tung University).

Surveying of the site has already begun and construction is due to start in July 2008 and be completed by December 2009. The first projects will be unveiled in early 2008.

http://www.next-gene20.com/load/project_work_20_a4.html

http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image1_r3.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image2_r4.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image3_r4.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image4_r1.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image5_r2.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image6_r5.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image7_r4.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image8_r3.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image9_r2.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image10_r4.gif

http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image11_r2.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image12_r1.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image13_r5.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image14_r3.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image15_b3.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image16_r4.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image17_r5.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image18_r1.gif
http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image19_b4.gif http://www.next-gene20.com/load/Images/image20_r4.gif

while those are nice, we honestly need more homes that are just nicely built rather than have outlandish architecture, which will be a pain to maintain. I don't think most of those structures will age well,

Those look rather ugly to my eyes.

my thoughts exactly. who the frig wants to live in those wacky abstract structures that's more like a museum for modern art than a comfortable house? why can't they just design some decent normal looking houses in taiwan like those in the suburbs in anytown, u.s.a. or go full luxury like those beachfront mansions in the hamptons, ny or malibu, ca?

^^ You're missing the point. If all houses were "normal" or basically like American Suburbia, how boring would that be? The thing about architecture is that it is alive, and if we are forever stuck with the idea that a home, to be considered "comfortable", must be like a Mediterranean style house or an English house for example, then architecture will become stale. We need these radical architectural designs, not as as a future home for a regular Joe's house, but as a direction for the future of architecture.