“It’s hard for the human heart to live in this digital age, the place I want to build that can make the heart stable.” ——Tadao Ando

The building project locates in Changsha, Hunan Province. A small non-decorated house set within an area of 90 square meters. The occupants expect their new home to be unconventional and look simple and bright. During our communication with the occupants, a specific scene gradually emerged in our minds: in the wooden house, the family are sitting around the dining table. The light is softly sprinkling on the food, family members are sharing the harvest and insights of the day. We think it is the warmest and most touching moment for a family. Therefore, the space has the quality of interacting with the scene and makes the heart stable.

▼空间概览，overview ©龙奇华

The design is started with this wooden house. After the emotional conception, we start to solve the problem rationally. – Poor lighting and ventilation. As the house is in the middle of the tower house, the north-south is not transparent. – Insufficient storage space in the entrance hallway. -The corridors connecting the rooms are long and narrow. – Two bathrooms are undersized.

We removed some of the walls and readjusted the space layout according to the above problems. The wooden house is “planted” in the space and begins to “grow” around. Eventually, the whole house establishes an “order” where everything is in its place. Breath, sound, light and shadow can flow in each space, and the house will become a harmonious entirety.

▼构思，拆除，植入-生长，成形，Idea, Removing, Implantation – Growth, Achievement ©龙奇华

The entrance of the house is a place that opens people’s senses. We hope that the occupants will be wrapped in warm lights and wooden materials as soon as they return home, to wash out the tiredness. White latex paint is used on the walls and ceiling, and a white maple floor is used on the floor, which visually makes the space more spacious and is more conducive to outdoor natural light entering the interior.