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Architects: Wang Deng Yue
- Area: 7180 m²
- Year: 2012
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Photographs:Savoye Architectural Photography
Text description provided by the architects. This project is designed as an artist research institute for Mr. He, Shuifa, the renowned Chinese painter specialized in painting flowers and birds. There is a scene of ‘Temple Mountain’ portrayed in the famous Chinese painting ‘Fuchun Mountain Villa’. The project site is exactly where the scene was. The site expands out from a mountain, with the main access road to the east and a lake to the west.
The design process is the architect’s exploration towards ‘Chinese and Modern’. Being quite different from western paintings, traditional Chinese paintings are more impressionistic and spiritual, which is called ‘Yi’. Yi is when the artist has achieved the spiritual parallel with the subject then manifests in the paintings. Inspired by such, the project architect tried to remove the common symbols that represent forms in traditional architecture, and with the much more in-depth understanding of the essence to depict the real Yi. Thereby, it allows the audience to resonate with the tradition internally at a much deeper level to thus, re-present tradition.
Through linear organization of courtyards, terraces, water, axis and framed views, the architecture hugs the natural mountain landform to create the contrast between open space and enclosed space, thereby form this experiential beauty of sequence. It is by such means, the building symbolically represents the ‘honesty, enclosure and open-ness, modesty and spiritual connection’ in traditional Chinese philosophy through a spatial experience. The design then reaches the spiritual parallel with the traditional Chinese painting.
The entire architecture is divided into east and west following the mountain body. The eastern gallery main hall has two floors. A cross shape skyline corridor subdivides the main hall into eight smaller spaces. There is a stairwell within the skyline corridor while the corridor is sequenced by a series of arches. Visitors would follow the designed sequence intuitively counter-clockwise starting from the first floor, then follow the stairs to second floor and come back down without repeating their pathes.
The residential portion of the project is designed with special noise cancelling technique. It serves a gallery for art collections. The exterior façade design has a very interest rhythm.
The western part of the site has abundant existing vegetation. The architect decided to use it for art studio. The design of this part emphasizes on the co-living environment between the architecture and the existing trees. There are also a few terraces with fantastic views to the lake.
