Forest Villa is a contemporary residence that perfectly embodies spirituality. The project is located in Hefei, Anhui Province. The most famous natural landscape in Anhui Province is Mount Huangshan, known as “the loveliest mountain of China.” The many granite peaks and rocks emerging from the sea of clouds are famous for their unique and spectacular scenery and have been represented through art and literature by many famous figures in Chinese history.
Project name: Forest Villa
Completion year: 2023
Location: Hefei, China
Architecture and interior firm: HAS design and research
Website: www.hasdesignandresearch.com
Design team: Jenchieh Hung, Kulthida Songkittipakdee, Atithan Pongpitak, Zhihui Jiang
Lighting consultant: Jenna Tsailin Liu
Lighting technology: Visual Feast (VF)
Landscape and furniture consultant: Weili Yang
Construction consultant: Zaiwei Song
Constructor: Hefei Botuo Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd.
Site area: 310 sq.m.
Gross built area: 545 sq.m.
Photo credit: Fangfang Tian
Forest Villa is influenced by the beautiful natural scene of Mount Huangshan. Its unique scene experiences, such as peaks, seas of clouds, jungles, and stone forests, prompted HAS Design and Research to try to create an eternity-like nature space. Hung And Songkittipakdee (HAS) compare the process of entering the building to the sequence of natural scenes seen when entering Mount Huangshan, urging people to live in the building as if they were living in nature.
The building is hidden in the natural landscape, creating a hazy shape like a “peak.” Before entering the Forest Villa, the winding tree path not only brings an extraordinary arrival but also strengthens the aesthetic relationship between man and nature. When arriving inside the building, its space is like a “sea of clouds.” The stretching column space brings a sense of belonging to the space and also creates a unique sense of ritual and spiritual experience. A large number of holes create a dynamic, vivid, and spiritual experience for the space. The continuous visual effect of the overlapping and interactive walls and holes is like the natural silhouette formed by the superposition of clouds, providing a harmonious and vivid spatial relationship between void and solid. In the living room and dining room on the ground floor, the rhythmic walls provide guidance and appropriate emptiness in the space. They not only serve as an interface to mediate the two spaces but also enhance people’s perceptions and emotions of the space.
The upper-floor space continues the experience of the beautiful natural landscape of Mount Huangshan, reflecting the sense of space in a “jungle.” Dozens of door panels that can be opened and closed allow for rich and diverse changes in the space. Its movable door panels not only allow external natural light and seasonal winds to pass through the building, bringing a transparent and light living experience, but also block excessive western sunlight and form a living space for meditation, yoga, and Tai Chi. Even the movable door panels can enclose a space with a sense of boundary and form a place where you can read, think, and gaze at the stars independently.
On the underground floor, unlike the lightness of the upper floor, HAS Design and Research uses thick walls and holes of different sizes to create a progressive and weightless visual experience, like in a “stone forest.” There was a sense of nature in the cave. These openings not only serve to separate spaces but also imply continuity between spaces. When light travels through a specific place, it also metaphorically represents the skylight courtyard behind the wall and also guides people to look towards the bamboo forest landscape, making the natural landscape the backdrop for the indoor hall. The background is like a Chinese landscape painting hanging on the wall.
The detailed design is also a feature of Forest Villa. The entire building gives the family a pure and elegant atmosphere from the outside to the inside. At first glance, this is a very minimalist project, but in fact, Hung And Songkittipakdee carefully hide all the equipment commonly used in construction in the pillars, including fire equipment, wires, water pipes, electromechanical systems, air conditioning, etc., making the building space simpler and allowing people to perceive a completely different atmosphere between the internal and external. Forest Villa is not only a residence but also a place for sustainable growth and timelessness. It brings a strong sense of ritual and mystery, injecting another spiritual symbol into contemporary residences.
