Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3
Getting to Know Cui Kai's Work
Cui Kai's work first came to my attention when I was browsing the online pictures of the Yifu Building and the office building of the Beijing Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press (FLTRP). Immediately I could sense a boldness in his work. After reflecting on his design of the Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 (online too, of course), I had a strong desire to write something about him, because, once again, I sensed something special - something very subtle and alive.
Feeling FLTRP Office Building
A certain feeling for Cui Kai's work inspired me to go to SOHO NewTown to apply to visit the Commune by the Great Wall right after the Chinese lunar New Year. As luck would have it, our bus broke down on the way and was forced to stop on the Wanshou Freeway. Then just as I looked up, a red brick high-rise caught my eye immediately. The attention-grabbing FLTRP logo on the building told me that this was Cui Kai's work. After telling the driver where I would go, I headed straight there.
It was really like an industrial building. The acute angles, the bevels, the protruding contours lent it an air of overwhelming might. While taking a few shots, I was seen by the gatekeeper, who then approached. So, pretending not to shoot again, I wound my way to the back of the building. There I saw a totally different view--the red brick walls soaring against the white overpass and the oblique yet bright winter sunlight sharpening this contrast. All of a sudden, I felt as if I were immersed in the paintings of the Italian surrealist artist de Gericault. These very things can neither be seen nor felt from the prints or online pictures. Once again I would argue that one must approach architecture in person in order to feel and understand it.
'Cement Mill'
During my stay in Beijing, I spent a lot of my time phoning and chatting with my friends in taxis. On one such occasion I chatted with the architecture critic Wang Mingxian on the subject of the FLTRP building. My taxi driver, overhearing me say that I admired the building, told me frankly that he disliked it. When I asked why, he replied that "it looks like a cement mill". I thought to myself then this represents the very truth of the unconventional and unorthodox. And that was what Cui Kai had learned from industrial architecture.
How to Evaluate
To be frank, it is almost impossible to find any buildings free of flaws in the field of contemporary Chinese architecture. The truth is, however, that modern Chinese architecture still has its place, and that we should evaluate it from the perspective of cultural ecology.
People might be asking "what is the cultural ecology of architecture then?" My answer to this question is reality and truth, occurring spontaneously. As nature dictates, things either evolve or die out gradually.
Background and Environment? Better Not Mention it
Cui Kai is well known in architectural circles, and to date, he is the most successful architect to be born and raised in China. He is, however, often the subject of debate because of the organization he worked with, and also because of his social status. Which natural environment is most ideal for the architect to flourish in and to make those people around satisfied as well? This is a pertinent topic, so we might well shift our attention back to architecture itself. Once you become familiar with architectural history, you will find that architecture of any age is nothing but the complicated composite forms of the society that produced it. And Cui Kai's works are no exception.
No Longer Yesterday's Cui Kai
By simply arranging his works chronologically, you will notice today's Cui Kai bears little resemblance to yesterday's. By saying so, I mean, in addition to the awe-inspiring quality of his work, the Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 expresses a more independent and practical artistic language, which is simple and succinct, and produces a striking visual effect.
What's more, his new work embraces a kind of thinking that is lacking in his former work. This kind of thinking is exactly what today's Chinese architects lack. It is, as Cui Kai himself called it, 'repetition and diversity'.
The Origin of Architecture
Japanese architects claim that dwellings are the starting point of all architecture. For me, however, this doesn't get to the essence. I would like to propose instead that the chair is the starting point of architecture. From the design of a nice chair, you can find out to what degree the architect is able to reflect human life and the human spirit.
Integrity and Architecture
The Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 may be a small piece of work in the eyes of Cui Kai. However, his design and description reveals the attitude an architect should hold toward any work, that is, one of integrity and honesty.
To evaluate the real value of architecture, you must first see through those 'little tricks' the architect adopts. Here, in Cui Kai's work, there's no need to decipher any such 'tricks', because his expression is so clear, simple and plain.
In order to further explore Cui's integrity, I would like to refer to the following description of Cui Kai's design for the Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 cited from www.panshiyi.com.
"See and Seen"
People go to the mountains for the scenery. For this reason, Villa No. 3 was designed to look out onto the scenic vistas to the north and northeast of the home. From the windows of Villa No. 3, one can see Villa No. 1 nearby and further away, the country club. In the distance is the most stunning scenery of all, the ascending peaks of the rolling mountains. To maximize the view, the living room and dining room were designed to face the scenery to the north, while the bedrooms were left open to the vistas in the northeast.
The most difficult thing about building villas in the mountains is to avoid "blocking" the scenery. In this case, the architect also had to keep in mind Villas No. 4, 5, and 6, which are located behind Villa No. 3. The living and dining rooms are built on a sunken terrace, which gives them the appearance of "crouching" in a thicket of trees. The sunken terrace itself has been covered with soil and greenery, transforming an otherwise unremarkable hillside into a "hillside of glass". The bedrooms are located in a section of the house that has been raised on stilts, in order to maintain the flow of the topography and allow an unobstructed view of the surrounding hillside.
Who Comes for the Weekend?
It is impossible to predict who, besides the owners and their staff, will be occupying a home. Weekend guests come and go, and it is sometimes hard to know how many people will be coming, if they are male or female, or what their relationships to each other and the owners are. The elegant, connected living and dining rooms of Villa No. 3 create the perfect setting for these sorts of gatherings. The guest bedrooms can be divided into a series of smaller or larger rooms to suit the number and types of weekend guests. The two restrooms can be divided as well - one for men and one for women, if need be.
The master bedroom is raised above the terrace to provide exclusive access to both clear vision and privacy. The bathroom in this room is opened to the outside view and the occupants can enjoy the landscape when taking a bath. The spacious kitchen is designed with an open floor plan, somewhat like a bar. There is a separate servants' entrance leading from the service kitchen to the dinning area, so that meals can be brought in when hosting large parties without disturbing the guests. In addition, there is a driver's room, laundry room, a facility room and a garage in the villa.
Lighting Chamber
In the darkening evening, a string of bright lanterns illuminates the owners' path home, as warm light radiates from the glass entry hall to herald their return. Light from the two-storied living and dining rooms illuminates the courtyard of the house. The scenery inside the courtyard changes with the time of day, as daylight and artificial light, trellises and trees throw picturesque shadows onto the walls of the courtyard. The scenery outside the courtyard is equally varied, offering green grass, ivy, fall leaves and snowflakes, as the seasons change. This is a living representation of the harmonious dialogue between man and nature.
Easy to Build
Since Phase I is small in scale, and located in the mountain valley far away from the city, it is not economic to use commercial concrete for the field casting. Steel structure (living room and bedrooms) and a small portion of brick and concrete structure (subsidiary houses and walls) are adopted here.
The living room sinks one meter below the ground level and the earth dug up needs not to be taken away for it can be used for leveling the courtyard and covering the roof. If a big rock is encountered, with slight sculpturing, it can be used as furniture or as a furnishing in the living room.
Heat preservation and energy conservation should be considered for the exterior construction, in areas such as: earth cover, insulated floor slabs and roofing, three-layer hollow glass windows and doors and especially the treatment of cold bridges at the junctions between the outdoors and indoors of the steel structure.
Construction materials:
Steel--structure and stairs;
Aluminum sheet--exterior finish;
Glass--windows, partition wall and glass lantern;
Stone--retaining wall and floor;
Timber--flooring, ceiling, outdoor terrace and furniture;
Top soil--cover for the roof;
Sand, pebbles--courtyard ground;
Repetition and Diversity
This concept is also applicable to other sites, given there is sloped terrain.
The angle between bedrooms and the living room can be adjusted.
The glass in the glass lantern can be altered (transparent glass, frosted glass, glass with printing or tinted glass).
The layout of bedrooms can be changed.
The area is variable.
Fixed furnishings can be varied.
Interior materials can be changed.
Building Dimensions
Total area 390 m2
Public living area 157 m2
Master bedroom 37 m2
Bedroom area 132 m2
Other rooms 33 m2
Getting to Know Cui Kai's Work
Cui Kai's work first came to my attention when I was browsing the online pictures of the Yifu Building and the office building of the Beijing Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press (FLTRP). Immediately I could sense a boldness in his work. After reflecting on his design of the Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 (online too, of course), I had a strong desire to write something about him, because, once again, I sensed something special - something very subtle and alive.
Feeling FLTRP Office Building
A certain feeling for Cui Kai's work inspired me to go to SOHO NewTown to apply to visit the Commune by the Great Wall right after the Chinese lunar New Year. As luck would have it, our bus broke down on the way and was forced to stop on the Wanshou Freeway. Then just as I looked up, a red brick high-rise caught my eye immediately. The attention-grabbing FLTRP logo on the building told me that this was Cui Kai's work. After telling the driver where I would go, I headed straight there.
It was really like an industrial building. The acute angles, the bevels, the protruding contours lent it an air of overwhelming might. While taking a few shots, I was seen by the gatekeeper, who then approached. So, pretending not to shoot again, I wound my way to the back of the building. There I saw a totally different view--the red brick walls soaring against the white overpass and the oblique yet bright winter sunlight sharpening this contrast. All of a sudden, I felt as if I were immersed in the paintings of the Italian surrealist artist de Gericault. These very things can neither be seen nor felt from the prints or online pictures. Once again I would argue that one must approach architecture in person in order to feel and understand it.
'Cement Mill'
During my stay in Beijing, I spent a lot of my time phoning and chatting with my friends in taxis. On one such occasion I chatted with the architecture critic Wang Mingxian on the subject of the FLTRP building. My taxi driver, overhearing me say that I admired the building, told me frankly that he disliked it. When I asked why, he replied that "it looks like a cement mill". I thought to myself then this represents the very truth of the unconventional and unorthodox. And that was what Cui Kai had learned from industrial architecture.
How to Evaluate
To be frank, it is almost impossible to find any buildings free of flaws in the field of contemporary Chinese architecture. The truth is, however, that modern Chinese architecture still has its place, and that we should evaluate it from the perspective of cultural ecology.
People might be asking "what is the cultural ecology of architecture then?" My answer to this question is reality and truth, occurring spontaneously. As nature dictates, things either evolve or die out gradually.
Background and Environment? Better Not Mention it
Cui Kai is well known in architectural circles, and to date, he is the most successful architect to be born and raised in China. He is, however, often the subject of debate because of the organization he worked with, and also because of his social status. Which natural environment is most ideal for the architect to flourish in and to make those people around satisfied as well? This is a pertinent topic, so we might well shift our attention back to architecture itself. Once you become familiar with architectural history, you will find that architecture of any age is nothing but the complicated composite forms of the society that produced it. And Cui Kai's works are no exception.
No Longer Yesterday's Cui Kai
By simply arranging his works chronologically, you will notice today's Cui Kai bears little resemblance to yesterday's. By saying so, I mean, in addition to the awe-inspiring quality of his work, the Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 expresses a more independent and practical artistic language, which is simple and succinct, and produces a striking visual effect.
What's more, his new work embraces a kind of thinking that is lacking in his former work. This kind of thinking is exactly what today's Chinese architects lack. It is, as Cui Kai himself called it, 'repetition and diversity'.
The Origin of Architecture
Japanese architects claim that dwellings are the starting point of all architecture. For me, however, this doesn't get to the essence. I would like to propose instead that the chair is the starting point of architecture. From the design of a nice chair, you can find out to what degree the architect is able to reflect human life and the human spirit.
Integrity and Architecture
The Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 may be a small piece of work in the eyes of Cui Kai. However, his design and description reveals the attitude an architect should hold toward any work, that is, one of integrity and honesty.
To evaluate the real value of architecture, you must first see through those 'little tricks' the architect adopts. Here, in Cui Kai's work, there's no need to decipher any such 'tricks', because his expression is so clear, simple and plain.
In order to further explore Cui's integrity, I would like to refer to the following description of Cui Kai's design for the Commune by the Great Wall Villa No. 3 cited from www.panshiyi.com.
"See and Seen"
People go to the mountains for the scenery. For this reason, Villa No. 3 was designed to look out onto the scenic vistas to the north and northeast of the home. From the windows of Villa No. 3, one can see Villa No. 1 nearby and further away, the country club. In the distance is the most stunning scenery of all, the ascending peaks of the rolling mountains. To maximize the view, the living room and dining room were designed to face the scenery to the north, while the bedrooms were left open to the vistas in the northeast.
The most difficult thing about building villas in the mountains is to avoid "blocking" the scenery. In this case, the architect also had to keep in mind Villas No. 4, 5, and 6, which are located behind Villa No. 3. The living and dining rooms are built on a sunken terrace, which gives them the appearance of "crouching" in a thicket of trees. The sunken terrace itself has been covered with soil and greenery, transforming an otherwise unremarkable hillside into a "hillside of glass". The bedrooms are located in a section of the house that has been raised on stilts, in order to maintain the flow of the topography and allow an unobstructed view of the surrounding hillside.
Who Comes for the Weekend?
It is impossible to predict who, besides the owners and their staff, will be occupying a home. Weekend guests come and go, and it is sometimes hard to know how many people will be coming, if they are male or female, or what their relationships to each other and the owners are. The elegant, connected living and dining rooms of Villa No. 3 create the perfect setting for these sorts of gatherings. The guest bedrooms can be divided into a series of smaller or larger rooms to suit the number and types of weekend guests. The two restrooms can be divided as well - one for men and one for women, if need be.
The master bedroom is raised above the terrace to provide exclusive access to both clear vision and privacy. The bathroom in this room is opened to the outside view and the occupants can enjoy the landscape when taking a bath. The spacious kitchen is designed with an open floor plan, somewhat like a bar. There is a separate servants' entrance leading from the service kitchen to the dinning area, so that meals can be brought in when hosting large parties without disturbing the guests. In addition, there is a driver's room, laundry room, a facility room and a garage in the villa.
Lighting Chamber
In the darkening evening, a string of bright lanterns illuminates the owners' path home, as warm light radiates from the glass entry hall to herald their return. Light from the two-storied living and dining rooms illuminates the courtyard of the house. The scenery inside the courtyard changes with the time of day, as daylight and artificial light, trellises and trees throw picturesque shadows onto the walls of the courtyard. The scenery outside the courtyard is equally varied, offering green grass, ivy, fall leaves and snowflakes, as the seasons change. This is a living representation of the harmonious dialogue between man and nature.
Easy to Build
Since Phase I is small in scale, and located in the mountain valley far away from the city, it is not economic to use commercial concrete for the field casting. Steel structure (living room and bedrooms) and a small portion of brick and concrete structure (subsidiary houses and walls) are adopted here.
The living room sinks one meter below the ground level and the earth dug up needs not to be taken away for it can be used for leveling the courtyard and covering the roof. If a big rock is encountered, with slight sculpturing, it can be used as furniture or as a furnishing in the living room.
Heat preservation and energy conservation should be considered for the exterior construction, in areas such as: earth cover, insulated floor slabs and roofing, three-layer hollow glass windows and doors and especially the treatment of cold bridges at the junctions between the outdoors and indoors of the steel structure.
Construction materials:
Steel--structure and stairs;
Aluminum sheet--exterior finish;
Glass--windows, partition wall and glass lantern;
Stone--retaining wall and floor;
Timber--flooring, ceiling, outdoor terrace and furniture;
Top soil--cover for the roof;
Sand, pebbles--courtyard ground;
Repetition and Diversity
This concept is also applicable to other sites, given there is sloped terrain.
The angle between bedrooms and the living room can be adjusted.
The glass in the glass lantern can be altered (transparent glass, frosted glass, glass with printing or tinted glass).
The layout of bedrooms can be changed.
The area is variable.
Fixed furnishings can be varied.
Interior materials can be changed.
Building Dimensions
Total area 390 m2
Public living area 157 m2
Master bedroom 37 m2
Bedroom area 132 m2
Other rooms 33 m2
