DOUCHANGLEE, Dou Maison

The project is located in Tainan, next to the Hayashi department store, the first department store in Taiwan. All the buildings on the street were built at the time when Taiwan was ruled by Japan. After a long while, Some were broken, and some roughly remained their original looks. The project happened to be flanked by two of these buildings that otherwise were preserved well but the building of the project itself was in severe condition. The design strategy adopted an approach of renovation for this historical building. By reclaiming the building's original elevation, it regained the integrality of the street, and reshaped the characteristics of the new age. The unfolding of this project over the urban context of Tainan revealed a social intention. This is a place where fashion meets culture and a historical dialogue emerges between Hayashi and Dou Maison along the refurbishment of the two. Meanwhile, it is also a statement that expresses the enthusiasm of Dou and Changlee about the bridging between fashion and humanities as well as the confidence in the development of fashion industries.

The elevation window was remained its original proportion as much as possible to preserve the former characteristics and respond to the street elevation on both sides. Though expected to keep its original features, the renovation did not just duplicate the old. What was implemented was the refurbishment of the original tile and restoration of the damaged with cement. Big fixed glass was adopted for the interior window and aligned with the height of the elevation window. Modern architecture language that was applied in the historical building as a comparison made the texture of the original tile even more conspicuous and propagated historical meanings in contemporary ages.