Buildings of Taipei – special issue: cages

If this is your first visit, please read the introduction here.

This set is dedicated to the ‘cages’ which Taiwanese like to put in front of their windows. I usually call them ‘cages’ because I don’t know the correct term for it. On the other hand these houses really look like ‘cages’ to me. These cages are an essential part of Taiwanese residential building architecture. It is almost impossible to find older buildings without them.

From what I heard one of the major reasons for these cages is protections against thieves. And I agree that it can make sense when the apartment is in the first or second floor. But it is hard to believe that thieves will climb outside the house up to the 5th floor or even higher to break into an apartment. Actually I don’t know if burglary is a big problem in Taiwan. However, this article is not about the pros and cons of these cages. I only want to show some of them to you.