Platinum Landscape Planning and Garden Design · 2020
Nine Court Mansion Residential Landscape
by Shenzhen IN Lab Design and Consultancy
- A' Design Award 2020 Platinum Winner in Landscape Planning and Garden Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Shenzhen IN Lab Design & Consultancy Co., Ltd.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 210,098
- Verification code 8B4EB2B669 · Verify this award
About Nine Court Mansion Residential Landscape
Nine Court Mansion is a residential landscape design located in Chongqing, China. The project covers 11952.75 square meters and includes hard pavement, green areas and water features. The spatial layout is inspired by the structure of the Forbidden City. A central axis links three groups of spaces that guide residents from the entrance to the home. Traditional elements such as pitched roofs and dragon scales are simplified in shape and material, and carving is used instead of printing. Plant communities create a green microclimate for daily life.
Within the distinguished tradition of residential landscape architecture that seeks harmony between built intervention and natural processes, Jian'an Zhou's Nine Court Mansion Residential Landscape emerges as an accomplished meditation on threshold, transition, and the dialogue between contemporary architectural expression and enduring principles of garden making rooted in East Asian philosophical traditions. The designer demonstrates remarkable facility in orchestrating diverse materials—brushed metals, warm bronze-toned panels, polished stone, living vegetation, and still water—into a unified composition that achieves both visual drama and contemplative serenity. The sweeping metallic canopy, with its suggestion of unfurling silk or wind-caught fabric rendered permanent in architectural form, establishes an unmistakable gesture of welcome while creating protected passage from public realm to private domain. This dynamic overhead element finds its necessary counterpoint in the horizontal tranquility of the reflecting pool below, where carefully positioned stones and a singular specimen tree create a miniature landscape that rewards extended contemplation. The chromatic restraint evident throughout—warm metallics, cool grays, verdant greens against azure sky—suggests a sophisticated understanding of how limited palettes can achieve maximum visual impact through careful modulation of tone and texture. One might observe references to the traditional Chinese garden principle of borrowed scenery in how distant towers become compositional elements framed by foreground architecture and vegetation, transforming urban context into aesthetic asset rather than visual intrusion. The technical achievement of the cantilevered roof structure, appearing to float with effortless grace despite its considerable span, demonstrates engineering sophistication in service of experiential poetry. Visitors approaching this threshold space might consider how architecture and landscape together create rituals of arrival, marking the transition from exterior world to interior sanctuary through a carefully choreographed sequence of spatial experiences.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This project is intended to improve the life quality of residents at the same, use the modern design to introduce and express elements of China traditional culture, in order to improve recognition and degree of attention of people on China traditional culture.
The inspiration getting from the spatial structure of China Palace, create axis layout and relationship of three pattern. The traditional homing etiquette and traditional China element are expressed contemporarily. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Dimension:
Total area of this project is 11952.75 square meters including 2829.6 square meters hard pavement, 4191 square meters green area and 1642.02 square meters waterscape.
Material:
Pavement:
Fuding imitation black water jet Weige Brick;
Royal black matte surface marble;
Granite;
Grey gravel;
Grey marble ceramic tiles;
Facade:
Gris Pinto marble;
Galvanized sheet with Champagne gold lacquer;
Aluminum sheet with wood grain;
Silk printing glass;
Fabrication techniques:
Dry hang;
Water cutting;
Traditional brackets. - Tags
- Modern Chinese, residential, culture, oriental, Chongqing
- Production Technology
- We pursue the presentation of traditional oriental aesthetics in the project design. Chinese style and artistic conception are brought into the design, use the ways to carving instead of printing to grasp Chinese Charm, change complexity to the simple, adjust in material and simplify in shape elements like Chinese traditional pitched roof and dragon scales, meanwhile shall focus on the design essentials in function. That is, return to the users and bring them spiritual pleasure.
- Design Challenge
- Re-look through and explore Chinese culture, and create new fashion of MADE IN CHINA, which makes Chinese regain the emphasis on our own culture. However, Chinese culture lies in its charm instead of single accumulation in form.
The design difficulties this time lie in both meeting aesthetic needs of people and usage needs in life referring to how to express the traditional culture. - Project Duration
- The project started in May 2018 in Chongqing and finished in May 2019 in Chongqing.
- Operation Flow
- Combining long and narrow site condition, and getting inspiration from the spatial structure of the Forbidden City, create relationship of three-pattern, and achieve multiple homing feelings. By rational utilization of different height of site, achieve conversation among spaces. Combining the outdoor space of principal axis with empty space of first floor in the building, and create ultra huge experiential living pavilion, and lead people from indoor to outdoor. Also introduce natural plant community to the site, and create micro-climate life circle and ecological green living place.
- Research
- In modern baptism, the popular European aroma and being unfamiliar with our own traditional culture are our collective self lost in this era.
This project lies in improving the life quality and the recognition degree on this culture through contemporary expression on Chinese traditional culture.
After a questionnaire, site analysis and a deep research on the Forbidden City. The axis layout with three organised pattern was made with contemporary expression on traditional homing etiquette. - Inspiration
- Since China has developed from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization, the history never goes back. The Chinese peaceful and indifferent life aesthetics and faith for integration of nature and human are challenged and neglected.
We do not deny development, but China needs to regain attention to its own culture at this stage. - Image Credits
- Image #1:IN Lab Design and Consultancy,2019.Image #2:IN Lab Design and Consultancy,2019.Image #3:IN Lab Design and Consultancy,2019.Image #4:IN Lab Design and Consultancy,2019.Image #5:IN Lab Design and Consultancy,2019.
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Jian'an Zhou, 2019
Colors of Nine Court Mansion Residential Landscape
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G0E3 ShopDesign Interview about Nine Court Mansion Residential Landscape
The inspiration getting from the spatial structure of China Palace, create axis layout and relationship of three-pattern. The traditional homing etiquettes and traditional China element are expressed contemporarily.
This project is intended to improve the life quality of residents at the same, use the modern design to introduce and express elements of China traditional culture, in order to improve people’s recognition and degree of attention on China traditional culture.
We would invite new colleagues to see the project regularly and give careful analyses of the pros and cons of the project.
It is around 10 days.
I decided to pursuit this inspiration due to China needs to regain attention to its own culture at this stage.
Another company produces it.
The enthusiasm to Oriental culture and Chinese traditional landscape design.
They are my colleagues who worked with me in the same company.
Sunac real estate, Chongqing/China.
The design difficulties this time lie in both meeting peoples' aesthetic needs and usage needs in life referring to how to express the traditional culture. By reference to the spatial layout method from the Imperial Palace, we constructed nine spaces and grouped them into three steps of the home-returning ceremony.
The name of the project, the Nine-Court Mansion, originated from the practice in China that there are nine rooms at most in a house no matter how large it is.
AutoCAD, SketchUp & Lumion
This project is intended to improve the life quality of residents at the same, use the modern design to introduce and express elements of China traditional culture, in order to improve people’s recognition and degree of attention on China traditional culture.
We have technical group in our company who collaborate with this project.
Chinese style and artistic conception are brought into the design, use the ways to carving instead of printing to grasp Chinese "Charm”, change complexity to the simple, adjust in material and simplify in shape elements like Chinese traditional pitched roof and dragon scales, meanwhile shall focus on the design essentials in function.
In order to more fully get knowledge of background of project, we conduct a questionnaire survey on potential customer group and local residents, get some missions and site memory of this project , and then guide the latter design. Combining the current status of site, we make a deep research on the spatial structure of Chinese traditional residence and look up lots of books. Finally we get inspiration from the spatial structure of China's Forbidden City, create the axis layout, and create relationship of three-pattern, Make contemporary expression on traditional homing etiquette.
Change complexity to the simple, adjust in material and simplify in shape elements like Chinese traditional pitched roof and dragon scales, meanwhile shall focus on the design essentials in function.
We realize this is a high quality project and we hope more people could be interested in Modern Chinese landscape after they visit this project.
This project furthers my understanding of classic Chinese landscape and through communication with our clients, colleagues and locals, my understanding of design improves a lot.
I hope everyone present could pay more attention to oriental landscape design and provide us with your suggestions. We will keep committing to do our next project better.