Architectural designer Honglin Li has revealed a cottage proposal in Zhejiang, China created along with Chenyu Huang and Zhaoxuan Wang. Located on the waterfront of a historic town named Qixi Village, the project is sited next to the Qianjiangyuan National Forest Park in the southeast of Zhejiang province. Floating above an elevated topography, the cottage is surrounded by uninterrupted views to nearby rivers and mountains in all directions.
As the team explains, the main focus of the design is to take advantage of the typography, creating an intimate architecture that adapts to the sloping landscape. "The circular plan allows each guest room to enjoy uninterrupted, panoramic views to the water and national park, while also facing away from other rooms and ensuring maximum privacy." The design was made to create an intimate, memorable hospitality experience for travelers, backpackers, and family visitors in nature.
The architectural concept is based on a simple and efficient plan that organizes the program along the circulation. All the featured programs have access to direct view from surrounding landscape, including views to the water, mountain and historic village. Inside, the lodging spaces, such as standard guest rooms and guest villas, are grouped with amenities located in the circular plan on the upper slope of the site. Other supporting service and retail spaces are located east of the lower side of the slope. The east and west programs are linked together by two central axes that lead to the public realm and waterfront.
Intersecting the two axes is a porous public space that is accessible for both the visitors and local residents. This internal garden is a clearly defined space in comparison to the external landscape. The central axis extends south towards the waterfront to create a viewing deck. The combination of viewing deck and internal garden create a collective space that brings opportunity for shared experiences through diverse events. The building has a wooden structure resting on steel columns. The exterior is cladded with treated hardwood paneling, to emphasize the beautiful aesthetic and durability of the material, as well as situate the architecture into the context.
The interior is composed of a wood floor finish on top of smooth-polished concrete, with walls and ceilings cladded in wood panels with the same intervals as on the exterior cladding. Roof skylight provides natural lighting for standard guestrooms, as well as the upper-level spaces in guest villas. At night, visitors can see the starry sky from their bed. The skylight and pitched roof create a unique outline of the cottage massing that highlights the building profile within the landscape. The cottage also features a spa room with an infinity pool, which offers a visual effect of water seemingly extending into the surrounding environment, merging with nature beyond.
