line+ studio scatters its mogan valley yimutian dwellings along scenic rice fields

line+ studio introduces its sunac · mogan valley yimutian community as a contemporary interpretation of the traditional chinese resort town. in studying the typical real estate development precedents, the team led by architect meng fanhao realizes that a large number of design strategies are copied as a standardized style from the cities to the suburbs, and even to the countryside. gad · line+ studio seeks to break this unspoken rule with its sunac · mogan valley yimutian project, located along a sloping site at the foot of deqing city‘s mogan mountain.

images © sun lei, unless otherwise stated

line+ studio‘s sunac · mogan valley yimutian community is nestled between a mountainous landscape and a valley of crisscrossing rice fields. the design team worked closely with its client, sunac china southeast regional group, who hoped to move away from the traditional residential style that had become so common throughout the area. hoping to make its collection of villas more diverse, the team sought a new design language among the natural context and its forested mountains.

in planning the mogan valley yimutian community, meng fanhao of gad · line+ studio aims to celebrate the rolling hills of the sloping site. thus, rather than forming a multi-story vacation apartment community, the development is organized as a scattering of individual dwellings that integrates the new lifestyle of vacation and social activities. the orientations of each dwelling are informed by the irregular boundaries and the complex topography of the site, rather than occupying the landscape as a strict grid. the interstitial spaces between the buildings and the four main courtyards generate a secondary logic of smaller gathering areas, resulting in a multifaceted, community-focused condition.

designing the mogan valley yimutian community, the team realizes that residents prioritize views and a relationship with the natural landscape rather than more rooms or larger interior spaces. each dwelling faces south as much as possible, maximizing views and valuing each occupant with equal measure. after many calculated iterations to best orient the collection of dwellings, the end result appears to be randomly scattered.

image © jianzhi-arch photography