Promenade at the foot of the moutains of heaven

This vacation house is located on a hilly site of the southern foot of mountains of Heaven. Because there is a beautiful panoramic view of snow mountains almost 270°around especially to the south side of the site, the client envisions the house a place where he can fully enjoy the mountain scenery and can take a stroll during pleasant seasons. The typical local climate is with up to 7 month long snow season, cool in the summer and cold in the winter. Slopping roof is preferred to direct the melted snow water. The design concept is derived from ‘mountains’and ‘seeing the mountains from different perspectives’. A promenade, from the land to different levels of the building and from outside in and inside out, is created to guide the client a journey of mountains watching. Reconsidering the sloping roof requirement, we transform the roofs into slopes so that the client can climb on. The ascending slopes, i.e. the sloping roofs form a part of a vertical circulation system which also a part of the promenade. Along the pathway, a continuous green roof zone is defined. In the spring time, the same kind of wild flowers blossom together with those on the sloping land where the building sits on. The building merges itself into the surroundings. In the winter, the snow will cover the landscape zone and offer the building a ski-run-loop type of seasonal feature. This concept fundamentally defined the shape of the building and the spatial quality of it. The building itself becomes a small ‘mountain’. The promenade becomes a journey of climbing a ‘mountain’ while watching the beautiful snow mountains beyond. Inside of the building, a three-story atrium surrounded by runs of stairs is created to accentuate this small ‘mountain’s verticality. The stairs run into different direction on different levels towards views of snow mountains beyond the facing window. The process of ascending inside the house is another kind of mountain climbing. The higher one arrives, the better the mountain view is. Furthermore, major spaces in the house are all arranged around this atrium, just as the core space in the local traditional residence, named ‘A Yi Wang’. ‘A Yi Wang’ space is not only shared by the whole family, but also promotes vertical air flow between levels and improves the comfort level of indoor spaces in the local climate. The promenade on the exterior of the building can be freely switched to an interior one at different levels, providing 720°range of views of snow mountains. There is a big height difference on the site. In positioning the house, we intentionally make the use of the slope instead of squaring the house directly on the flat portion of the land. After balancing the excavation, we chose to have the building partially touched the slope and gain rich layers of spaces for landscape. The building becomes part of the hilly site and roots deeply into its surroundings. The interaction between the building and the topography of the site, no matter it is conflict or compromise, makes the building uniquely site specific. We believe that it can offer the client unique living experience that he cannot expect elsewhere.