Residential
Villa Shizilin
By Clifford Pearson

Set in an orchard of persimmon trees, this sprawling, 4,800-square-meter house brings together two different approaches to architecture in a rapidly changing world. Fusing modern technologies with an interpretation of traditional forms, the project finds common ground between a global world view and an appreciation of local crafts, materials, and culture. The result is a grand villa that is contemporary in style, yet rooted in its particular place.

Such a combination of old and new, Chinese and international seems appropriate for the clients, a developer couple whose projects are in China but have attracted attention from around the world. It also seems logical coming from the office of Yung Ho Chang, an architect educated in both the United States and China. After establishing his firm, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, in 1993, Chang designed a series of boldly modern buildings such as the Heibei Education Publishing House in Shijiazhuang and the Split House at the Commune at the Great Wall, outside of Beijing. In 2005, he became the head of the department of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but continues his thriving practice in Beijing.

Having established his modernist and international credentials, though, Chang is now exploring Chinese architecture and what it means in today’s world. The Villa Shizilin, which was completed in the spring of 2004, represents the start of Chang’s re-examination of traditional forms and materials. More recent projects take this approach even further. For example, a mixed-use building and museum at Jishou University now nearing completion in Hunan recalls the forms of a Chinese hill town.

The Villa Shizilin embraces its site near the Ming Tombs outside of Beijing by retaining the existing persimmon orchard and even enclosing a few of the trees within small glass-and-steel courtyards. For the main sections of the house, Chang designed nine tapered forms as if they were giant rangefinders (like those found on a camera) and oriented them to different views. Together the sloped roofs of the house recall traditional Chinese forms and create their own artificial topography, echoing the shapes of the nearby mountains.

Chang used a concrete-sheer-wall-and-beam system for the structure and then clad the outside walls with local granite and the roof with dark cement tiles. Rusted Corten steel panels provide color accents to some exterior surfaces, while terrazzo floors and exposed concrete ceilings inside establish a more neutral palette of materials.

The clients and their two children live in the house—which includes an indoor swimming pool and a cinema—but intend to use it also as a club to entertain guests.