XH Mountain Villa

The project is located on the slope of a hill in rural western Hunan, backed by a wooded area and facing an open field with a wide view and fresh air, surrounded by the original western Hunan homes.

The owner, a successful man from the city, wanted to build a private clubhouse in his hometown that could host 7 or 8 families at the same time. In order to minimize the destruction of the natural topography of the slope, while allowing more space for open field views, we designed an elevated quadrangle spatial structure that drops down the slope. Around the central courtyard terrace, eight suites of different sizes are set up around the perimeter according to the difference in height of the slope. Due to the large difference in elevation of the slope, the rooms with higher elevation can get a view over the roof of the lower elevation space. The main entrance is located at the parking deck at the bottom of the slope, with stairs going up the hill step by step. Inside the platform is the public living room, and the swimming pool is set around it, forming the visual effect of a borderless pool.

As snakes and insects are prevalent in western Hunan and the ground is humid, the building draws on the elevated practice of typical local dwellings. This treatment also reduces the damage to the original landscape from site renovation and facilitates security. On the other hand, the materials and construction practices of the building are also learned from the local dwellings (e.g., tung oil wood exterior walls, log frame structure and gray earth tiles), which not only keeps the appearance consistent with the surrounding dwellings, but also reduces the oppression of the large volume of the building on the surrounding native dwellings, and allows the local villagers to complete the building with their familiar construction techniques (which also greatly reduce construction costs)

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