In China, mansions are measured with the numbers between entrance to the main room. The family is the basic unit. Chinese do not like to display wealth, so they build high walls around their mansions. In our ancestral houses, gardens were built for pleasure, and it with very simple design of black or red back doors, and grey tile white walls.
——Leohming Pei
Shangyu Jiangnan Li, is adjacent to the World Cultural Heritage Grand Canal to the south, Xiaoshao lake to the north, in the river intersection, Cai Yong, Xie Lingyun, and Li Bai have all visited the river across the weir.Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the natural landscape of Shangyu has been built with ancient land roads. Xianzhi Wang praised that walking from the mountain to the vagina, the mountains and rivers are mutually crossed, making people overwhelmed. The coexistence of humanity and nature has always been praised by scholars.
At the beginning of the design, we were thinking about how to integrate the ancient symbiotic state of nature and the Chinese vision of the traditional garden at the same time; building a personal spiritual world, where people living in the garden, wandering in the nature.
A good courtyard mansion should be integrated between the landscape and architecture in space, and it should be brought the joy of life by space of nature. Therefore, in Shangyu Jiangnanli, the designer hopes to redefine and present the modern life via the integration of space and orders.
To open the underground space and let nature and sunlight enter.
Through the way of earlier intervention, the designer reconstructs the meaning of the underground space. The definition of home has changed from a single fixed space to a more diversified third space, making the underground space a place where real life can happen.
The underground space includes the reception room, the tea room and the third space in the true sense. The french window on one side allows nature and light to enter and this is the typical design of Chinese-style courtyard house in believe of coexisting nature and spirit in one space.
The hollow space allows the sunlight to enter the room better. The entire space is treated with light to make the entire underground space full of temperature like the ground floor.
All the spaces and furniture here follow a design principle that allows the whole to penetrate into the details. Whether it is a modern shape from a traditional shape, a delicate closet or a traditionally refined dark red, it is exactly where each one belongs. Everything is related to the space, life and nature.
The first floor is a space that reflects a fixed lifestyle. In traditional understanding, a living room is separated into up hall and down hall, one is for ceremony and the other is for family life. It connects the outdoor yard, and makes a peaceful without losing the sense of ceremony.
However, in this design, we rebuild it and integrate it into the modern lifestyle. We create a natural and harmonious living atmosphere. You can sit in the sofa and have a panoramic view of the nature state of the plants and trees in the courtyard.
The exquisite glass lamp on the top makes the space more integrated. The contemporary design style is integrated under the traditional courtyard house, it reflects a modern Chinese lifestyle. In addition, the mixed furniture makes people feel this design principle profoundly.
On the second floor, the bedroom is the most private space for family. The bedroom needs to enter through living and leisure area, so that the need of privacy can be better considered.
The bedroom also needs to reflect its living space in a quiet state. The combination of walk-in closet and reasonable design of the main bathroom allow the space to have more complete functionality and daily life to be carried out in an orderly and quiet manner.
The bedroom’s color is always unfolding in the traditional Chinese colors. Gold, lapis lazuli and dark red reflect the nobleness of traditional Chinese style without losing its fashion.
The words and ornaments in the wall paintings also correspond to the gardens. The preface of Lanting Collection is the true portrayal of the comfortable life in traditional China, which coincides with the design and concept of the Chinese style courtyard house.
Jiangnanli is more than a modern style, it is the courtyard house design about time.
Maybe we can no longer experience the way people used to live in such a homeland in ancient times. Whether we can use a new space to reflect their spirit, not only to abide by their freedom and grace, but also in a more real, more concrete, more modern design.