Alex Ching-Chen Liu (he/him) is a Taiwanese architect currently pursuing the Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design at Columbia University GSAPP. His work explores architecture as a continuum bridging past, present, and future, with a focus on adaptive reuse, urban regeneration and climate consciousness. Before joining GSAPP, he was a senior architectural designer at JJP Architects + Planners, one of Taiwan’s leading firms, where he contributed to a wide range of projects, including industrial adaptive reuse, office complexes, and sustainable laboratory designs. Beyond architecture, he is also an passionate photographer, using the lens as another medium to explore space, memory, and everyday life.
Education
Columbia University GSAPP (New York)
Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design, 2025-2026
National Cheng Kung University (Tainan, Taiwan)
Bachelor of Architecture, 2016-2021
Experience
Columbia University GSAPP (New York)
Teaching Assistant for Architectural Drawing and Representation, 2025-
JJP Architects + Planners
(Taipei, Taiwan)
Senior Architecture Designer, 2022-2025
Zhaoyang Architects (Dali, China)
Architecture Design Intern, 2019-2020
AMBi Studio (Taichung, Taiwan)
Architecture Design Intern, 2018
License
Registered Architect of Taiwan, 2024-
Contact
Email
/
cl4735@columbia.edu
LinkedIn
/
Ching Chen Liu
Instagram
/
alexdoublechen
© Alex CC Liu 2025
House of Oblique
Year
2020
Project Type
Academic Design Studio Work (NCKU Architecture)
Instructor
Po-Yu Chao + Si-An Yu (Studio tngtetshiu)
Site Location
Tainan, Taiwan
How can architecture in rural area refer to the conflictive order of surroundings?
Conducted in the studio Critical Rural Architecture (Studio tngtetshiu), this project reinterprets rural typologies through installations, models, and house design. The House of Oblique challenges the dominance of orthogonal living: old and new grids collide, producing irregular spaces where columns, walls, and stairs interrupt daily routines. By forcing residents to adapt, the house turns architecture itself into an active participant in shaping everyday life.
The work documentation was later compiled and published as part of the studio-led research project, The Ideas of Ordinary Objects.
Stage 1
“Inter-oblique”, a spatial concept drawn from odd-shaped buildings commonly seen at rural road intersections, where two orders collide: the exterior wall conforms to the street, while roof, structure, and partitions follow their own logic—resulting in forms marked by tension and incompleteness.
Stage 2
An installation is made to reinterpret the concept of “inter-oblique”. On a place where people's daily walking path collide with an existing rectangular prism, two stairs are put on each side of the existing grey bench. The oddness of each stairs-one with a tilted stairstep and the other with a cut part-arouses people to recognize the collision of two orders when passing through.
Stage 3
A prototype of “inter-oblique” collides two 9×9m grids: one with a tilted structure that disrupts spatial use, the other cut by a ramp that leaves the interior incomplete.
Stage 4
The spatial model of Stage 3 further evolves into a rural house design: while most buildings align with the road or north, a three-story house tilts on its own axis. An added extension follows the road’s order, producing an “inter-oblique” condition between old and new.
GF PLAN
2F PLAN
3F PLAN
SOUTH ELEVATIONAA’ SECTION
BB’ SECTION
CC’ SECTION
© Alex CC Liu 2025