I really like some of the architecture in Taipei. There are some nice Japanese and Chinese styles, as well as some European and American styles. Amazingly enough there are even some buildings which try to mix some of these styles and do it quite well. I'm always shocked by this because at least in the west those buildings which try to combine eastern and western architecture usually end up looking terrible.
For the most part though Taipei is pretty bland. What used to be a sea of old soviet style, concrete, five story walk ups; has been replaced by a maze of tall modern buildings which all look too similar to the next. They have nothing unique to them and their goal seems to be not to offend, rather than to excite.
The irony in this is that there is one type of building that always does have some unique style...real estate sales buildings. Whenever a real estate venture is building a new apartment building, they will build a small yet decadent two story building to serve as their sales office. Yes their attempt to portray an image of high class, innovation and success is audacious, yet they are fun to look at none the less.
After they have completed their sales within a month or two, the building is torn down, usually to make way for another apartment building to go up in it's place. Or sometimes to build the actual apartment building that they were previously selling apartments for.
It's always a shame to see them go, so I was surprised when i stumbled across this. Basically they made a cafe out of the real estate sales office. It's quite a nice idea, but also from the set up they have in it, it also seems like a makeshift one. In that rather than selling it after it was used up, it more seems like the project hasn't reached it's goal like they thought it would, so in the mean time it's trying it's best to make money from the space. But either way it's a clever idea. Perhaps it will inspire some future restaurants or cafes to make some bold new choices.
