[ RSVP ] ORDOS 100 #12

Architects: RSVP
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China
Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China
Constructed Area: 1,000 sqm aprox

While the search for paradigms in architecture is not a recent one, the conscious pursuit of utopia seems to be another species in danger of extinction at a moment when architecture and God are rumored to no longer exist. Still, when faced with the challenge of designing one of 100 villas in the middle of Inner Mongolia–in the context of the exiting pragmatism of the contemporary Chinese architectural production–we decided to relocate our faith in architecture in terms of the discipline itself. We removed ourselves from any sarcastic, ironic or cultural contextual position in order to “Design” a house that will not only respond to the program but also to a more abstract order of complexities.

Because our site culminates the perspectival axis framed by the main street, we decided to lift the house in order to allow the landscape and views to go through, while idealizing the building in its detachment from the ground.

We separated the ludic programmatic components and buried them inside the landscape, objectifying the private wing as a floating element. Finally we proceeded to rotate the upper bar to allow both the main living area and master suite a generous southern orientation. This spatial and formal maneuver generated an open courtyard that connects both the underground and the hovering components of the Villa Long. The name is meant to evoke both the dwelling occupying the longest lot, but also symbolically, the “dragon” as a concept and a provider of meaning.

In terms of language, we developed a mathematical model based on a module that is rotated and displaced and a scaled skin of pre-cast concrete panels with a slight angle that orient the bedroom windows towards the south. The house will be build with a double layer of exterior concrete with brick interiors in order to properly respond to the extreme weather conditions of the area. We are also proposing green systems like geothermal and low consume artifacts to ensure a minimal environmental impact and energy consumption.

from  archdaily