Designing a house on a narrow lot in the bustling city of Taichung, Taiwan, called for a certain imagination—especially when it was intended for a family of three with an extensive art collection. The architects, a Münster, Germany–based firm, Behet Bondzio Lin Architekten, wanted to make sure the narrow (30 feet wide) and long (98 feet) house, known as Haus Flora, would be able to receive ample daylight, yet still afford privacy to its residents.

Concrete columns and beams often subdivide the spaces in the 15,000-square-foot house, providing a sense of scale. “We thought about architecture as aperture,” says principal-in-charge Yu-Han Michael Lin, adding that the concrete elements framed views that “arrest and release the stream of daily life.”