This holiday villa is located on the outskirts of Pudong, Shanghai. In the spring of 2018, we received an order letter from the owner, who wanted to demolish the old house, build a new house for the brothers and sisters to switch from the city to the countryside on weekends and holidays, to visit their parents, to have a tea party, to relax in the tranquility of the countryside, to experience the rhythm and atmosphere of nature.

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Our design concept includes the following three points. The element of nature is put first. Although the base is located against a grove of fruit trees and there is a site in front of the building that can be used as a garden, we still want to introduce green into the building space, borrowing the concept of traditional oriental gardens, allowing nature to penetrate the interior of the building, eliminating opposition and isolation from the outside. Secondly, as a large family home, the internal public space becomes an important issue, and open and comfortable public spaces can create more opportunities for family interaction and achieve a harmonious atmosphere of family life. Thirdly, modernity is a consistent and consistent principle of this rural construction practice. Regardless of the surrounding village environment, we consider it important to build a modern white house on this small residential base.

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According to Shanghai's country house building regulations, the volume of old houses before demolition determines the shape of the new building — the contour of one storey building is determined, the volume height of the east side is limited to 2 floors and the rest to 3 floors, and there are also clear restrictions on the height of the slope roof and eaves. Under these conditions, we still want to follow the natural design concept, planting inner courtyards and patios on different floors, creating a three-dimensional and inward garden to ensure the internal atmosphere of its creation; at the same time, the pose of the building subject is outward-facing — the 21 m long horizontal mass is noticeably suspended and held out. Facing the orchard, the 3.5 m suspended volume on the west side is directly adjacent to the boundary of the base, which also solves the area demand caused by empty inner courtyards. Natural light enters the room through large windows in the inner courtyard and patio, creating an ample and soft atmosphere of light. The design of the structure and structure also fully follows the techniques of local rural construction. We instruct those workers who do not have any experience in modern construction to build the volume of the building using the most ordinary reinforced concrete frame filling brick walls.

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After the construction of the villa, the modern appearance in some way influenced the villagers' perception and acceptance of modern housing. As indigenous villagers, the elderly owners lived a farming life in this modern building — growing vegetables to raise poultry. The middle-aged owners also brought the habits of Shanghai city life back to the countryside, drinking coffee in the courtyard, achieving a degree of harmony. For the metropolis of Shanghai, rural villas on the outskirts can relieve the stress of the urban environment; rural residents believe that self-built homes need to be more organic and closer to life than most real estate villa projects, combined with contemporary Chinese land policies, say local residents of these residential bases for them Building your own home is also more economical than buying. It is hoped that this project will explore the type of modern country house suitable for contemporary China in terms of aesthetics, practicality and construction technology.
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Project Information
Project Name: Shanghai Pudong Farmhouse
Project Type: Detached House/Building
Designer: Kikasa Architecture
Project Design: 2018
Year of Completion: 2023
Design team: Li Bo, Li Xuan, Xie Jinhui (Structure), Zhang Daoguang (Electrical), Gu Zongliang (Water Supply), Xu Yuchao (Internship)
Project Address: Wanxiang Town, Pudong New District, Shanghai
Building Size: 430 ㎡
PHOTO COPYRIGHT: WM STUDIO (PHOTOS AND VIDEOS)
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