Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho by Tzu-Chun Yen and Jhih-Wei Chen

Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho by Tzu-Chun Yen and Jhih-Wei Chen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award Keleawe in Hoʻolālā Loko Hale a me Hōʻike Competition Category.

KeleaweLoko Hale· 2026

Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho

by Tzu-Chun Yen and Jhih-Wei Chen

Client: W.Design

A' Design Award Keleawe Winner in Loko Hale Category

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Colors

The Design

About Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho

He hoʻolālā loko hale noho ʻo Timber Shadow no kekahi hale noho pākahi he 56.2 mika kuea ma Taipei. He ʻano hāmama ka hoʻonohonoho ʻana, me nā paia piʻo e hoʻopili ana i ka mokupuni kīhini i kahi noho ʻohana. Hoʻonani ʻia nā paia me nā lāʻau kūpaʻa poʻokela i wili ʻia mai ka ʻoka ʻeleʻele, a hoʻopalupalu lākou i nā palena o ka lumi. Ua hoʻopau ʻia nā ʻili me nā uhi minerala i hāpai ʻia me ka lima me nā ʻano kala gula haʻahaʻa, a ua hoʻomoe ʻia ka papahele me ka ʻoka chevron. Mālama nā waihona hūnā me nā ākea aka 10 mm a me ke kukui LED 3000K ma ke ʻano kaʻawale i ka home liʻiliʻi i ka maluhia a me ke kaʻawale i ka haunaele.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Keleawe

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho i ka A' Design Award Keleawe, he ʻike hoʻohanohano nui loa i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā kūʻokoʻa i ʻike ʻia ma o ka hana noʻeau, ka akamai a me ka makakoho. He mau hana mākaukau a hana noʻeau kupaianaha nā lanakila Keleawe e hōʻoia ana i ka ʻike nui, ka noʻonoʻo a me ka maʻalea o kā lākou poʻe hoʻolālā. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho he mea i mahalo nui ʻia, hoʻohiwahiwa ʻia a aloha ʻia, he ʻoihana a hou loa. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Keleawe e hoʻohui ana i nā hana maikaʻi loa o ka hana noʻeau, ka ʻepekema, ka hoʻolālā a me ka ʻenehana, a maikaʻi no kona nānā ʻana i nā kikoʻī. Hoʻokō maikaʻi ka hoʻolālā Timber Shadow Ka Hoʻolālā Loko Hale Noho i nā pono, hoʻopā i ka makemake, hoʻohiwahiwa i nā manaʻo a huki i ka makemake e ʻike.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Timber Shadow transforms a 56.2-square-meter residence into a tranquil sanctuary. It distinguishes itself by balancing organic warmth with architectural stillness, creating an expansive feel in a compact footprint. Key features include custom-curved walls and rhythmic vertical timber slats that dissolve spatial boundaries. The design integrates specialty mineral paint with understated golden undertones and chevron wood flooring to add a tactile, luxurious dimension. By merging seamless storage with strategic lighting, the project achieves high-density functionality in a sophisticated urban environment.
Dimensions & Packaging: Total Floor Area: 56.2 square meters. Materials comprise custom-milled dark oak timber and hand-applied mineral coatings with understated golden undertones and a tactile matte finish. Flooring features precision-laid chevron oak. Lighting specifications include high-grade 3000K indirect LED strips and bespoke architectural pendant luminaires. Technical details involve precision-fabricated concealed cabinetry with 10mm shadow-gap detailing at ceiling and floor junctions.
Tags: Residential Interior, Minimalist Design, Curvilinear Forms, Timber Slats, Light and Shadow, Compact Living, Specialty Finishes, Chevron Flooring, Taipei Residence, Modern Sanctuary
Production Technology: Advanced precision engineering was employed to realize a seamless minimalist aesthetic. Key technologies include custom-milled vertical timber slats and hand-applied mineral coatings with understated golden undertones on complex curved substrates. Integrated concealed cabinetry was executed with millimetric precision, incorporating shadow-gap detailing at floor and ceiling junctions. Strategic indirect LED integration ensures a uniform light wash, enhancing the tactile quality of materiality across the 56.2m2 footprint.
Design Challenge: The primary challenge was balancing a deep, atmospheric palette with the requirement for spatial expansion in a 56.2m2 footprint. We overcame visual confinement by implementing curved architectural transitions and rhythmic vertical elements that direct focus upward. Technically, integrating seamless concealed cabinetry into complex curved substrates required extreme precision and advanced joinery. This synthesis of light and materiality successfully transformed a restricted urban space into an expansive, restorative sanctuary.
Research: Type: Environmental psychology. Objectives: Enhance spatial perception in 56.2m2. Methodology: Light-shadow interplay analysis. Tools: 3D modeling and material prototyping. Participants: Urban dwellers. Results: Seamless curves and vertical slats dissolved boundaries. Insights: Dark palettes can evoke openness via strategic texture. Effect: Elevates residential well-being and provides a scalable, sophisticated design model for dense urban societies, redefining small-scale luxury.
Inspiration: The design is inspired by the ephemeral interplay of light and shadow observed within a dense forest, aiming to integrate the inherent tranquility of nature into a modern urban residence. The core concept of Timber Shadow reflects a profound desire to balance organic warmth with meditative stillness. By abstracting natural textures into minimalist architectural forms, such as rhythmic vertical slats that mimic tree trunks and fluid curved walls that mirror natural landscapes, the project establishes an introspective sanctuary. This spatial narrative offers essential emotional breathing room within a compact 56.2-square-meter apartment, emphasizing a harmonious connection between the inhabitant and the environment through the meticulous application of specialty mineral paint with understated golden undertones and layered indirect lighting.
Project Duration: The project commenced in September 2024 in Taipei and was successfully completed in January 2025 in Taipei, Taiwan. This intensive five-month timeline encompassed both the comprehensive design development phase and the meticulous on-site realization of the custom curvilinear forms and integrated lighting systems, ensuring that every detail of the 56.2-square-meter sanctuary was executed to the highest professional standards.
Operation Flow: The home orchestrates a seamless daily ritual through an intuitive open-plan flow. Residents are guided by fluid curved walls that dissolve boundaries between the kitchen island core and the living area. Interaction is driven by natural light filtering through rhythmic vertical slats, creating a dynamic dance of shadows that evolves from dawn to dusk. Hidden storage ensures a clutter-free environment, allowing the tactile specialty finishes to foster a profound sense of tranquility and space.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Tzu-Chun Yen and Jhih-Wei Chen, 2025. Trademark (2025) W.Design.
Team Members: Tzu-Chun Yen
Jhih-Wei Chen
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer W.Design, Timber Shadow, 2025.
Image #2: Photographer W.Design, Timber Shadow, 2025.
Image #3: Photographer W.Design, Timber Shadow, 2025.
Image #4: Photographer W.Design, Timber Shadow, 2025.
Image #5: Photographer W.Design, Timber Shadow, 2025.