Lai Chien Cheng
1. Congratulations on winning the Rome Design Awards! Can you introduce yourself and share about what inspired you to pursue design as a career?
We are a construction and development company, deeply rooted in the urban renewal and ageing-building redevelopment market.
In a city filled with old houses, we aim to create architecturally refined projects that reshape the outdated streetscape and introduce a new aesthetic vision for the city—showcasing a more beautiful and vibrant Taipei.
2. What does being recognised in the Rome Design Awards mean to you?
For us, this recognition is a strong affirmation of our architectural design. Our past projects have always emphasised integrating global architectural perspectives into both the building itself and its shared facilities.
Receiving this honour signifies that our design approach is recognised by international professionals, motivating us to make our next project even better.
3. How has this achievement impacted your career, team, or agency, and what opportunities has it brought so far?
There is no doubt that our dedication to international-level architectural design has been recognised over the years. This project blends elements from luxury brands and international hotel design.
From the exterior façade to the lobby and show units, every detail presents a distinct character—earning strong praise and preference from many buyers.
4. What role does experimentation play in your creative process? Can you share an example?
Our design approach fuses elements from various hotel styles. For example, in the exterior façade we integrated “coral-inspired motifs” commonly seen in international hotel architecture.
For the interior common areas, we adopted luxurious hotel aesthetics and high-end, brand-inspired styles favoured by younger residents. The intention is that coming home should feel like returning to a resort.
Our strength as a company lies in blending diverse design elements into a unified whole—resulting in an exterior that feels calm, refined, yet unmistakably unique.
5. What's the most unusual source of inspiration you've ever drawn from for a project?
Our inspirations come from interior design works, architectural case studies, and commercial design—ranging from international hotels to luxury residences and public buildings.
The creative sparks generated by blending different design languages often lead to surprising ideas and outstanding results.
6. What’s one thing you wish more people understood about the design process?
Design is not just about imagery—it must also be buildable. In architecture, creativity must be accompanied by feasibility. This is often the hardest part, as it involves cost. Yet we insist on pushing forward, investing what is necessary to transform our conceptual vision into a real, tangible building.
7. How do you navigate the balance between meeting client expectations and staying true to your ideas?
A development company often acts as a bridge for coordination and communication. At the same time, we must evaluate decisions from a cost perspective.
To understand client expectations, we rely on data collection and statistical analysis to define their needs, then translate those insights into design choices. Even if achieving absolute perfection is impossible, we strive to get as close to 99% as possible.
8. What were the challenges you faced while working on your award-winning design, and how did you overcome them?
The greatest challenge of this project was that the site was incomplete—one parcel of land in the middle was not included in the development. This created significant difficulties for both the architectural massing and the basement layout. The façade also had to be divided into two separate buildings, which greatly increased the overall cost.
After numerous discussions with architects and designers, we transformed the plan from one building into two, and from one lobby into two lobbies—each with its own functions and design elements. The result is a pair of striking, landmark-level buildings along a major road in the central city.
9. How do you recharge your creativity when you hit a creative block?
Sometimes we recharge and gain new perspectives through outdoor activities or travel. During this process, we bring back ideas or issues that may have previously gone unnoticed and discuss them with the team through collective brainstorming.
This open, youthful mindset is one of our greatest strengths as a young team.
10. What personal values or experiences do you infuse into your designs?
Our company has always seen itself as a developer working on behalf of young people, clients, and landowners. Projects today are rarely easy, much like this “Dubai Art Museum” development, whose site was neither complete nor ideal.
But this reflects our core philosophy: we take on difficult projects because they need to be done, and because others are unwilling to take them on. That is how our identity and role are defined.
11. What is an advice that you would you give to aspiring designers aiming for success?
Just go for it. Today’s architectural design is not only about being distinctive—it must also consider cost and feasibility. Only by grounding design in reality can we truly meet our clients’ expectations.
12. If you could collaborate with any designer, past or present, who would it be and why?
Givenchy. The façade of our first project was inspired by the Givenchy logo. Audrey Hepburn once said, “It was Givenchy who created me.” In the same spirit, we pay tribute to timeless classics and aspire to achieve that same level of excellence.
13. What's one question you wish people would ask you about your work, and what's your answer?
Some may wonder why Kodar Construction is willing to design and execute such a challenging project, despite the incomplete site and increased costs.
In truth, many long-term residents entrusted us with their hopes—residents who have waited more than a decade for renewal. Many grew up here, and some are now entering their senior years. We wanted them to return to new homes with elevators, improved living quality, and modern safety standards—featuring updated architecture, reinforced structures, international-grade materials, and enhanced smart conveniences.
This is why we completed the design of the “CODAK CORAL ARCHI” project.
