This project is located in a rarely visited small mountain village at the foot of Siming Mountain, Yuyao, Zhejiang province. The village is on the edge of a secondary forest; a small river, dividing the village into two parts, slowly runs through from north to south. The tree villas are on the west bank of the lower stream. Atmosphere is tranquil and amiable there.
The principle of our design, which was established at the very beginning, is that buildings and their construction should have as little impact on the environment as possible. The gross building height of each triangular tree villa is about 11 meters, roughly equal to that of an adult moso bamboo. Each tree villa is divided into upper and lower parts; the lower part consists of steel support columns, while the upper part is the wooden main structure. Given that the tree villas are located at the bottom of the hill, if the floor level is set too low, there will entail relatively large excavation; setting it too high, however, will increase investment and reduce economy. Finally, based on the angle of the hill slope, the floor level is set to 4.5 meters, and a sense of flotation can thus be created. Moreover, now that the steel columns are narrowed down to several points on the land, greater free space for ground activities is produced.
Two T- shaped crossed roofing of equilateral triangles form the living space in the upper part (main body) of each villa. In order to get the best prospect, the four endpoints of the T - shaped space are all designed into glass, which can maximize its incorporation into the surrounding beauty.
Upon the choice of building materials, in order to get a better living experience, designers did not choose local moso bamboos. Rather, they decided to use more durable and pleasant wood. This choice not only maximizes the fusion between the villas and their environment, but also simplifies the construction due to the machinability of wooden materials, and further decreases the pressure caused by non-eco-friendly materials to the environment. With the lapse of time, tree villas—these artefacts—will slowly fade away, and leave no traces of construction in the future.
