Ventilated walls and porcelain stoneware: an ideal combination for greener and greener architecture

Designing the claddings of a public or private building implies complex decisions, with assessment of various factors, above all the local climate.
In fact, as well as defining the style of a building’s appearance and the way it fits into its surroundings, the materials chosen will be vital for the thermal and acoustic comfort of its interior.
For this private construction project in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, the architects chose to use the ventilated wall technology, cladding the exterior with large porcelain stoneware slabs.


Practical and stylistically eclectic indoors, stoneware is also perfect outdoors, and not just as a paving: resistant to weather, water and the passage of time, it adapts to architects’ creativity while also delivering thermal and acoustic insulation and infinite options in terms of sizes and material effects. The benefits of a ventilated wall are thus combined with stoneware’s outstanding technical characteristics.


This project, of great architectural prestige, was handled by Ho-Yao Architecture, who designed the home in Taiwan with the most sophisticated construction technologies. The collection chosen for its realisation is Grande Solid Color White  in the largest size in the range - 160x320 cm - and 12 mm thickness. Available in two shades, the White colour has a surface texture with a solid consistency, which enhances the facade’s snowy whiteness. Black was used as a contrasting decorative element on just one of the facades, with the slabs cut into vertical inserts. The villa is surrounded by a garden with rich vegetation and its pristine white colour stands out against the green background, which is reflected in the large mirror-glazed areas.


Irrespective of the anchoring system adopted, ventilated wall outer claddings offer impressive benefits in terms of building energy efficiency, also qualifying for the correlated tax breaks. When these benefits are added to the green manufacturing principles of Marazzi porcelain stoneware, a cladding of the kind designed in Taiwan is an architectural solution that provides environmental sustainability in all areas.


Design: Ho-Yao Architecture
Project realised in partnership with Link Kind Trading