Starting from the start 024. A Phone Booth Between Vision and Reality

Can Construction Waste Be Turned into an Office Phone Booth?

After the completion of the 1.0 shared space, practical needs led us to add a phone booth. Looking at a space built entirely from construction waste, and then flipping through catalogs of commercially available office booths, it felt clear that simply placing a ready-made product inside would the overall look and feel of the space. It would look out of place.

After consideration, we once again invited the design team META Design to take on a new challenge: to build a phone booth specifically for the 1.0 shared space—using construction waste.

A phone booth is a visually prominent object. To soften its presence within the space, META Design rounded one corner into a gentle curve instead of leaving it as a rigid box. This curved surface was made from plywood salvaged from elevator shipping crates used on construction sites. Through kerf-cutting techniques, the rigid boards were bent into shape. The result preserved the construction-site vocabulary while visually lightening the volume of the structure.

However, the core requirement of a phone booth is not its appearance, but sound insulation and privacy.

To enhance acoustic absorption, META Design experimented with reclaimed site materials such as debris netting, safety mesh, and cotton rope, seeking to improve sound performance while remaining faithful to the principle of resource reuse. Yet there remained a gap between intention and real-life use. After the booth was put into service, colleagues reported that the sound insulation was not as effective as expected, and the sense of privacy was limited.

In response to this feedback, we worked closely with the design team, holding multiple discussions and making adjustments wherever possible within existing constraints. The process was not easy, but it made one thing clear: when creative ideas meet real functional demands, design must be tested.

Today, the booth functions as a relatively private workspace. Its acoustic performance may not match that of commercial products, but what matters most to us is the attempt itself—the willingness to explore new functions within construction waste, and to learn through revision and refinement. For us and our collaborators, this was not just another finished piece, but a lesson in balancing ideals with reality.

Photo Credit: META Design

Editor: Shih Yi Feng

Starting from the start 026. Where Cultural Change Began to Ripple

Complaints and doubts are not necessarily negative. Sometimes, they are simply the beginning of conversation. FG Next had been in preparation since 2017, with weekly meetings devoted to discussion and debate, gradually shaping Farglory’s direction toward “sustainability” and “sharing”. The 1.0 shared space was the first attempt to bring the idea of circular regeneration in architecture into the workplace. When a concept moves from discussion into everyday reality—when it becomes part of where people work—it naturally invites people to feel, to reflect, and even to question. That, too, is part of cultural change.

Starting from the start 025. The Night We Moved In: Project 1.0

Six months earlier, the FG Next team had visited the META Design studio in Tamsui for the first time. That visit allowed us to truly see how discarded resources could be transformed into something meaningful. It aligned closely with the conversations FG Next had been having for more than two years around architectural sustainability. When we shared the background of FG Next, the issues we care about, and the idea of using the 16th-floor shared space as an experimental site, META Design understood that this was not a one-off commission. It was a company choosing to test new approaches within its own workplace.

Starting from the start 023. Keeping Nature in Everyday Office Life

In architecture and spatial planning, planting serves as a bridge between people, buildings, and nature, playing a key role in how comfortable a space feels. This way of thinking applies not only to products and public spaces, but also to our own workplace—we hope that even in daily work, colleagues can experience a sense of balance brought by nature and comfort.