BEIJING-BASED husband and wife property developers Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi are pioneers in this return to the countryside. With one foot still firmly planted in the city. Where hey are developing the innovative urban office/apartment complex SOHO New Town, the couple were one of the first to build their own ultra-modern glass and stone weekend get-away country retreat. Assisted by innovative young Beijing architect Yang Ho Chang, the couple recently published the story of their experience in We Build a House in the Mountains. Situated in a stunning valley behind a peasant village, their weekend house, Sban Yu Jian (mountain, dialogue, void), abuts a mountainside at a precarious and ultra-modern angle that Chinese traditional housebuilders - not to mention feng sbui masters-would most surely never countenance.
In what has been dubbed an opportunity "to collect the art of architecture", Zhang and Pan`s latest project is their most creative to date. Twelve internationally renowned architects from Japan, Korea, Chian, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Venezuela were commissioned to design private homes on an 8-kilometre-square site running along a valley overlooking the Badaling area of the Great Wall. The 40 private homes will range from 250to 500 square metres, with price tags averaging US$500,000, and will be based on architects` designs created specifically for this project. The luxury home project, affectionately titled "the Commune by the Great Wall", is far removed from the proletarian imagery its revolutionary name noce conjured up. However, a nostalgic revitalization of earlier return-to-the-countryside political movements is clearly implied.
Much to their credit, developers Zhang and Pan have done little to stifle the architects` creativity. Two simple provisos were made: the house designs must use local building materials and must also respect-and preserve-the natural landscape. Each architect must quickly adapt to local building materials, natural resources and, inevitably, local customs. The ambitious result, according to Korean architect Seung H-Sang, will be to design "architecture as landscape", aimed at accommodating diverse cultures and various functions in a final "culture-scape".
On 24 February, in Beijing, the architects` plans were unveiled in a well-publicised exhibition and press conference that was a major cultural event for Beijing in its own right. The exhibition, which included detailed mock-ups, floor plans and building material displays of each architect`s design, ran at SOHO New Town until 11 March. With an ambitious completion date of October of this year, each of the designers-only two of whom are based in Beijing-will no doubt have their work cut out.
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, a star on the jet-lagged international design circuit, currently commutes between Tokyo and New York. For the Commune at the Great Wall, Ban will continue his patent-pend-ing use of paper building materials and "furniture houses", this time combined with an innovative adaptation of bamboo as exterior and interior wall finishes. Bamboo, with its natural lack of uniform width and dimensions, makes for a difficult building material. Ban has found a way to overcome this hurdle by turning laminated strips of bamboo into plywood, an innovation that could result in another patented invention. Ban`s signature-built-in, full-height furniture-will form the construction basis of the Commune`s "Bamboo Furniture House" design. The locally made furniture units will not only separate living spaces, but will also double as structural supports, fitting module-like between floor and ceiling, in lieu of walls. Floors are to be made from local marble with a traditional water-based floor warming system beneath. Chinese vernacular architecture will be incorporated in a main central courtyard, with all rooms situated in a simple square format around it.
The only truly "communal" building will be a country club designed by Seung H-Sang. The low-rise structure will extend in five long, horizontal platforms from the north face of a mountain, affording panoramic views of the entire project site. Seung`s design relies on the intimate spatial relationship between architecture and landscape, and is especially representative of the Commune`s overall philosophy of preservation of, as well as reliance on, the natural elements of the site. Seung`s building materials reflect his belief in the living, "breathing", organic nature of structures, which should evince the intrinsic relationship between indoor and outdoor space. Local timber, granite and corten steel will be the main materials, all of which change colour and even rust naturally with age. The club`s Chinese restaurant will consist of 10 private banquet rooms, each with its own courtyard, with flexible partitions, which can be opened for communal use. A Western restaurant will have giant floor-to-ceiling windows in order to maximize the view of the Great Wall. Health club facilities and other space for cultural activities are also included in the clubhouse design.
Hong Kong architect Gary Chang`s "suitcase" house is inspired by his award-winning Hong Kong apartment design. Chang, an avid movie fan, created a compact home that doubles as a film-screening room-all in a tiny 30-square-metre Hong Kong flat, where windows, a bookshelf and a bed can be transformed into vital components of a home entertainment center. These unfolding and compartmentalized features will also be used in the Commune. At the main floor level, the home Chang has designed can be a loft-like, completely open rectangular space. Below, however, the bottom level holds an additional bedroom, bath and living areas stored in compartments concealed by floor panels, which can be opened and expanded to create an ever-adaptable configuration for "unfolding the mechanics of domestic pleasure".
Long-time Beijing resident Antonio Ochoa-piccardo has built a space that is multi-storied, albeit sublimely low-rise, complete with rooftop garden, Jacuzzi and barbecue. The house, made almost entirely of concrete, glass and wood, is perched atop a central platform that appears to suspend the structure, as it "hangs" from the gently sloping mountain base of the valley. Each level creates a discrete living space on varying planes of the slope. With only one central stairway, the house`s additional levels are integrated by gradation into the mountainside for discrete seasonal use, as organic appendages to the mountain slope, with one level favouring a winter clime and another built to accommodate greener and warmer seasons.
Yung Ho Chang, also from mainland China, is experimenting with a two-structure "split house", joined by a hinge-like construction that will allow for varying angles between the building halves in order to let the scenery-and mountain space-flow freely between the two. The joinery will rely on traditional Chinese mud and clay building materials, so that the split house design remains "convertible". In this way, the angle between the two halves may be adjusted to fit the particular hill site, and therein "transformed into a singular home, parallel homes or a right-angle house".
Other innovative design work includes a bamboo and glass structure by Japan`s Kengo Kuma, which will utilize bamboo materials as both flooring and walls. Thailand`s Kanika R`kul, the only female architect in the group, has designed a multi-functional, communal series of bathroom spaces for her model home, to accommodate baths, showers and individual bathing preferences.
Overall planning, which is no doubt daunting, given the engineering challenges of constructing on a hilly rural landscape, not to mention the almost outrageously unprecedented nature of the project, is the responsibility of Hong Kong-based architect Rocco Yim. Rocco, one of Hong Kong`s most highly regarded architects, will design one of the twelve model homes as well as act as Master Planner. The project will also require an innovative use of landscape design, which will be the job of Beijing-based artist Ai Wei Wei, who is moonlighting as the Commune`s chief landscape designer.
Meg Maggio
Once Phase I is constructed and the model homes and clubhouse are complete, phase II will replicate the architects` original 11 private home designs in approximately 40 additional homes. For further information, go to the commune website: WWW.commune.com.cn
