China: The Flowing Garden House

 Zhangzhou, Fujian Province  

Architectural Design: More Than Arch Studio

Chief Architect: Jin Niu

Interior Design: Zhenyao Huang / East Design

Photos  ©  Chao Zhang

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More Than Arch Studio:

"The Flowing Garden is radically different from most of contemporary private houses in China. The owners of the house are two entrepreneur brothers. This 3-acre residential land is rectangular with short sides on the north and south. It leads north to the road and south to the sea.

The owners intend to build a private house composed of three parts: two independent residential spaces for each brother’s family and a leisure space for gathering, meeting, fitness and other activities. In addition, the brothers hope that the newly-built house would be the space carrier of the whole family memories from generation to generation.

Space and Time: The height of the building is limited to ten meters, therefore overlooking the terrain is not viable. Therefore, the design focuses on the courtyard space and landscaping in the interior space. The climate in Southern Fujian is generally warm. Since the ancient time, the use of courtyards has been the normal practice of local traditional residential houses. The courtyard not only improves the environmental conditions, but also creates the natural division and transition between the leisure and residential space, provoking a sense of continuous spatial flow across different areas. Most importantly, the growth of vegetation over time creates a time and memory bond that would probably meet the owners’ expectation of relaying this space to their future generations.

Relationship between the tea room, the pond yard and the inner courtyard

Living space on the first floor

Painting in the underground swimming pool

Artist: Guanzhen Wu

Continuation of Life: The design of the Flowing Garden explores the use of contemporary materials construction to create a modern residential space with the traditional style and spiritual core. The origin of the project’s name is not only from the concrete material itself, but also a metaphor of the flowing space and the state of owners' quiet and peaceful life. The project's design and construction have lasted for 5 years. It had gone through a series of adaptations from simpleness to complexities and then from complexities to simpleness, just like a journey slowly approaching the essence of life. Life carries on, which is an ever-changing process. This is what we called flowing daily life."

The Flowing Garden House on Youtube