安和路飛碟屋

Dahe Road UFO House

March 25th, 2016

Taiwan has an unusual fixation on UFO houses. Browse around the web and you’ll invariably encounter references to the famous UFO resort in Sanzhi, demolished long ago in 2009. Keep digging and you might read about a second UFO resort in Wanli, still extant. But there’s more—and you don’t even have to leave Taipei city limits to find yet another example of this peculiar architectural inclination.

Turns out there’s a small UFO house hidden among the high-rises just east of Dūnhuà South Road (敦化南路) in Da’an, one of the richest areas of the country. From the news report it sounds like the owner isn’t a full-time resident—actually, he’s a wealthy landlord, evidently one with eccentric tastes. The unit, which boasts indoor plumbing, air conditioning, and a small parking space underneath the body of the house, appears to be entirely livable. I wonder if the owner has heard of AirBNB?

I am curious about the ultimate origin of this obviously prefabricated house. This is not, as you might imagine, a Futuro House, for it is obviously too small. Nor is it one-of-a-kind, for I have also seen evidence of at least four more in the ruins of Shàngxīn Garden (上新花園) in Yilan.