A Concrete Poem in the Wilderness
Some buildings are built for habitation; others are born to define the landscape. In 2008, during a journey around the world, Gavin conceived the dream of creating an ideal living space. He spent two years finding this serene hill overlooking the sea in the northwest corner of Kenting. In 2012, he invited the internationally acclaimed architect Grace Cheung to embark on a structural experiment defying gravity amidst the acacia forest and the fierce katabatic winds.
Structural Roaming: Vertical Misalignment
The most astounding achievement of this architecture lies in its "discontinuous walls." Departing from traditional beam-column systems, XRANGE Architects employed a highly challenging Vertical Misalignment design. Three curved walls weave independently through different floors without overlapping, acting like ribbons freely traversing between the slabs. This not only defines the distinct views for the eight guest rooms but also allows the architectural volume to visually dissolve into the acacia forest.
Low-Res Aesthetics
Facing the rugged terrain of Hengchun, the architect pursued a texture of Lo-Res Curves. The flowing wood grain on the walls is not accidental but the result of precise calculation. We used custom-sized wooden formwork, following the curvature of the walls for assembly. As the concrete cured within the molds, it faithfully recorded the details of every grain, endowing the cold building surface with a warm touch and expression.
Defying Gravity
4.5m Cantilever
In the stairwell, the curved walls boldly cantilever outward from the second and third-floor slabs by up to 4.5 meters. This "flying wall," with no ground support, challenges gravity in structural engineering while visually creating a breathtaking sensation of floating, framing the sea of acacia trees and the horizon into a fluid painting.
Echo Chamber
Resonance of the Wind
The windowless side of the building serves as a wind shield born to withstand the strong katabatic winds (downslope winds). Meanwhile, the cantilevered flying wall structure forms a massive vertical Echo Chamber. It captures and amplifies the rustling sound of the wind passing through the acacia leaves, making "listening to the wind" the most profound sensory experience at Wandering Walls.
Tactile Landscape
Sculpted by Nature
The ground floor walls float above the terrain, allowing the red soil of the courtyard to extend naturally indoors. With the changing seasons, the strong winds continuously carry away the red dust from the walls, smoothing the windward concrete while the leeward side retains its rough texture. This is a building "sculpted" by the wind.
Cheung 張 淑 征 Founder / XRANGE Architects
Grace Cheung is not only a contemporary architect but a pioneer making history.
In 2021, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded her the International Region Design Award, making XRANGE the first Taiwanese firm in history to receive this honor, and Grace the first female Chinese architect to achieve this distinction.
A graduate of Columbia University (M.Arch) and formerly with Canada's Patkau Architects, she brings precise tectonic aesthetics and an avant-garde fluid vision to Wandering Walls, crafting it into an architectural masterpiece capable of international dialogue. To collect Wandering Walls is to collect a piece of history where Taiwanese architecture steps onto the world stage.
World-Class Architectural Asset
Wandering Walls is the only project in Taiwan selected for ArchDaily's "The Guide to Good Architecture" (Top 100), and is featured as a masterpiece of contemporary world architecture by Braun Publishing (Switzerland).
The Gaze & The Everyday
Some buildings are like an unsigned love letter—designed for no one specific, eager to explain nothing, simply standing quietly, letting the wind pass through, letting light dance upon the surface. Here, there is no language, yet everything speaks—
Wind becomes an arc, light is the tone, and water is the breath. A curve of a wall, a streak of light, a pool of water; these are all sentences written by time.
After thirty, one no longer seeks the bustle, no longer obsesses over possession, but leans towards—drawing near, and then quietly coexisting.
In youth, we lived too forcefully, approached too carefully; now, we only wish to live "comfortably": fitting just right, breathing just right, retaining the soul just right, no longer floating above human connections.
The further one walks, the more one learns to keep just the right distance from the world. At least when the blinds are rolled up, the sunlight comes in, and the heart doesn't need to be held too tight. Regardless of the environment or relationship, one simply wants a place to be—no need to speak, no desire to leave, keeping only those presences with whom one can breathe together without careful maneuvering.
Here, you will slowly lose those desires you once thought important.No more scrolling, no rush to post photos, just focusing on one thing: living fully in the moment.
Wandering Walls stands like a kingdom in a pure land. No noise, no expectation for you to perform. It only provides air, light, architecture, and wind. The rest is up to you to decide how to live.
You can idle in the wind of the lobby, hang in the outdoor hammock basking in the sun, sway on the swing and zone out, or walk up to the rooftop pool, gazing at the infinite embrace of the mountains and the sea.
Here, everything is just right. Nothing more is needed.