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Architects: Index Architecture
- Area: 670 m²
- Year: 2012
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Photographs:Hunga Chan
Text description provided by the architects. The client wanted to build a small vacation house in the suburb area of Shunde, P.R.C. He would like to display his collection of Bruce Lee memorabilia, whose family history originated from Shunde as well.
The trapezoidal site tapers out from the west to east totaling 670 square meters. It is the last parcel of land to be built upon for an exclusive residential community. There is a sharp terrain drop of over 9 meters along the south edge of the site, forming a miniature “cliff”. Beyond this point are two-storey vernacular houses and modern residential high-rises. The north side faces back to this tranquil residential community.
With the short-term accommodation (vacation house) and the semi-public nature (display gallery) in mind, the housing mass is divided into two distinctive yet connected parts. The gallery space is placed along the south to form a visual anchor to define the edge of this community with a landscaped garden in front. Since the displayed items, mostly the first- edition movie poster, are all very sensitive to natural lights, window openings are carefully placed along this telescopic gallery to allow natural light entering discreetly. The windows also frame distant views beyond.
Adjacent to the gallery is the living studio. The master bedroom overlooks the double height living room which provides direct access to the garden. The openness of the garden is somewhat balanced by a sense of enclosure and privacy from the elongated concrete mass, It is a visual buffer and back-drop for the garden and the community.
Exterior is of raw board-form fair faced concrete to reflect Bruce Lee’s fundamental belief in “being no rule is the rule; being no limit is the limit.”
