We travelled over to the beautiful north coast of Taipei, where you can see the ocean on one side with tall green mountains on the other. We made the journey to see the strangest architecture that you’re going to find in Taiwan. The alien looking ‘UFO Houses’.
The houses are part of a beachside community of holiday homes, located in the district of Wanli. The UFO Houses which are officially known as Futuros have an interesting history and the small community of houses on Taiwan’s North Coast consists of the biggest group of this architectural design in the world.
In addition to the ‘Futuros’ there are also a number of ‘Venturos’ which are similarly designed homes. They were both designed by architect Matti Suuronen in the 1960s. The Venturo houses that are here tend to be in much better condition than the Futuros and quite a few of them have been renovated and are occupied today. It is thought that these are ‘Made in Taiwan’ versions as they differ slightly from Suuronen’s original designs. But nevertheless they are fascinating.
An occupied Venturo.
The Futuro is a pill-shaped structure made of fibreglass, reinforced plastic and plywood. The interiors, which are slowly disintegrating, comprises of just 50 square meters divided into a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and private bedroom. The creative allure, flexibility and size was an attempt to solve housing issues around the world. Once ready for production, special furniture packages were also created. Unfortunately the rising prices of plastics and oil in the 1970s sealed their fate and only about 100 homes were made before production ceased.
Futuro kitchen, dining and living space.
Venturo bedroom
Venturo living space.
Futuro kitchen
Bedroom and living room with sliding partitioned door.
The Venturos occupied today have the original stainless steel canopy frames and handrails. Some have the addition of a basement underneath providing more living space or modernised with new cladding and tiles.
What makes this place even more bizarre is that the area of Wanli is pretty desperate. Many of the beach side hotels are derelict with just a few taken holiday apartments on the sandy beach. Apparently beach holidays are not popular with the Taiwanese and the winters on this side of the island are pretty harsh.
The town has barely anything in it. We managed to find a cafe, which was someone’s house. She showed us the crab in the fish tank and cider in the fridge and that was all that was on offer. We bought the cider.
Thank you to Josh Ellis for the information on the internet regarding the history of the UFO Houses.