The Nine-Court Mansion, a high-end eco-residence project located in Chayuan District of Chongqing, is meant to create a new lifestyle by incorporating the spirit of Oriental tradition, exploiting the modern Oriental artistic expression and upgrading the function of residential areas.
Due to the neglect of traditional Chinese culture nowadays, the Chinese life aesthetics of peace and harmony and the belief that man is an integral part of nature have been gradually forgotten. This project aims to introduce and represent elements in traditional Chinese culture using contemporary design methods to arouse and enhance recognition for and regard to it and improve the living standard of residents as well.
The name of the project, the Nine-Court Mansion, originated from China’s practice that there are nine spaces at most in a mansion no matter how large it is. Based on this practice, we constructed nine spaces. We grouped them into three steps of the home returning ceremony: Entering the Gate to Behold the Mansion, Enjoying the Scenery in the Courtyard and Resting the Soul at Home respectively.
The nine spaces and the three-step home-returning ceremony spread along the longitudinal landscape axis around 145 meters long and 25 meters wide. The three-step home-returning layout is a complete representation of three different experiences during returning home, from the Urban Prosperity to the Landscape of Nature, then to the Indoor Courtyard. The nine spaces representing the specific functions and activity areas are designed based on each of the three experiences in returning home.
Descriptions for the Nine-Court Mansion spaces are as follow:
The first step of the layout (Greeting Pool Courtyard, Water with Flute Music, Hall of Forest): the entrance area that adopts regulations of mansions of ancient Chinese emperors and demonstrates family etiquette mansions.
The second step of the layout (Pavilion on Waves, Ever-Bright Pond, Cottage under Clouds, Pond by Woods, Hall of Vanilla): the core living area which integrates the swimming pool, lawn and waterscape into the courtyard layout, which is indispensable for a traditional mansion, and highlights the sense of belonging and cohesiveness.
The third step of the layout (Conversation Garden): the exquisite leisure living garden.
Nine Court Mansion
Location: Chongqing, China
Landscape Architect: Shenzhen IN Lab Design & Consultancy Co., Ltd.
Photography credit: Xiao Wang
