3G THINK TANK CHENGDU

Client: Private For Residential
Location: Chengdu, China
Project Status: Completed Summer 2007

Taking its cue from the mid-century modern architecture, the garden incorporates a formal and geometric design, using simple and affordable materials and regionally appropriate plants to create vertical and horizontal layers that facilitate both large gatherings and private enclosure in a small suburban garden. A seamless indoor-outdoor relationship integrates elements of each environment, creating interlocking spaces that serve the needs of a 21st century client.

Glass walls and sliding doors open to the garden in the back, where geometric space, connected by paths, provide ample entertainment space for 50 or for 5. In one corner of the garden, a canvas and steel pergola protects an intimate gathering space, accented by a wraparound sofa and ipe wood deck. Adjacent to the kitchen, a sizable square concrete patio contains moveable dining and lounging furniture, easily rearranged for small or large gatherings. In another corner, a reinforced concrete bench sized perfectly for a twin mattress cantilevers off the wall, ideal for afternoon naps in the shade. A linear reflecting pool flows from the back of the garden, underneath the house, perfectly aligned with the dimensions of the Bulthaup kitchen counter, just inside. Grasses planted en masse outside the master bedroom form a horizontal wall, creating a privacy screen akin to a curtain.