The project is located in a residential area beside Yangmeishan Road in Hangzhou. The hostess is a ceramic designer, the host is a game developer and entrepreneur, and they have a 4-year-old son. When I first met the hostess, she talked about her requirements for the home.
“Although it’s a new home, a brand new space without any historical records, I hope that I won’t feel strange when I move in. Moving is not just about ‘Oh, moving into a new home’, but also about moving the experiences and memories of the past thirty years here. Therefore, the new space should have many details of experiences and memories, so that the space can continue to carry new memories.”
This idea coincides with our design concept, which touched us deeply. We all hope that in this busy city, home is a warm place that can carry stories. We hope that every space we design is not only functional, but also warm and interactive.
Spatial Layout
We divide the entire apartment into two parts, the lively public space and the quiet private space. All private spaces are entered through unique arched doors. This design also gives guests a hint: "behind the door is the owner's private space."
The public space is the core space for families and visitors, and it is also the focus of our design. In the 6-meter-high space, we changed the layout of the original staircase and connected the two floors with an outer corridor. Starting from the door on the first floor, passing through the large windows and a display wall, to the public area on the second floor. Finally, it leads to a cantilevered small box. The outer corridor runs through the entire public area.
The large windows at the height of the second floor were previously out of reach, creating a sense of distance. By setting up the balcony, people can get close to the window and take in the beautiful mountains and tea gardens outside. Children can sunbathe, play or chase on the balcony. We overhang the windowsill slightly to make it a platform for children to play or adults to lean on.
The display wall on one side of the balcony tells visitors the owner's story through small ornaments that carry memories.
We carefully designed it according to the scale of the space under the stairs, breaking the traditional sofa model and turning it into a viewing area where people can watch movies and read by the window. Next to it is a small desktop where the hostess can work freely at any time.
kitchen
The kitchen may be a concern for many hostesses. In fact, the kitchen dining area is a very important area for dining and communication, and it is a place where more time is spent than the living room. After communicating with the hostess, we changed the original study into a Western-style kitchen. The characteristics of a Western-style kitchen are strong spatial interaction and an open setting. The hostess can stay in the kitchen with guests or other family members.
Due to the fumes produced by Chinese cooking, we still retain the original small kitchen as a Chinese kitchen.
The kitchen is a place where a lot of garbage and debris are generated, so it is very important to help the hostess organize the kitchen properly and design it to make use of the surrounding free space for temporary storage as much as possible.
Children's Space
The lovely little son is an indispensable protagonist in the family. In the design of the children's space, we avoid too many decorations with childlike images, because as the child grows up, he may no longer need these childlike elements. We must both meet the child's psychological needs for exploration and coordinate with the style of other places in the home.
Going up the balcony to the second floor is my son’s entertainment area. Taking advantage of the floor height, we built a 2.5-story space according to the child’s scale. This is my son’s secret base. Such a private and undisturbed small space is a necessity in childhood.
We cleverly turned the space at the small staircase into a reading wall, spreading out children's books to attract children to read. My son can sit on the stairs to read, or hide in his own secret base to read.
There is a yellow revolving door on the wall of the second floor, behind which is the hostess's studio. When designing this house, the hostess told us that she hoped to see her son while working, so this yellow door was built. This semi-open setting not only satisfies the privacy of both mother and child, but also selectively serves the communication between the two family members. The mother can observe the status of her son, and the little guy will not feel lonely when playing in the children's space, because he can see his mother and feel safe.
The hostess's studio is next to her son's bedroom. Mom suggested making a "puppy hole" on the door of her son's room so that the little guy can crawl in and out. We set the small door at a medium height, hoping that the little guy of this age can pass through the door normally. But when his height changes, he has to lower his head to walk in, as if the small door is silently saying to him: "Dear little boy, you seem to have grown taller!"
roof garden
There is a roof garden on the third floor where people can play, barbecue and get close to nature. It was originally designed as a dry landscape, but children can suddenly turn it into an interesting playground with a small sand pool, which is an unforgettable place for them.
Lead Designers: Han Xue & Hu Zhenhang
Assistants: Yang Yang, Deng Bin
