The Hangzhou-based architectural firm CAALADI (The Design Institute of Landscape & Architecture, China Academy of Art Co., Ltd.) has designed three houses in Nanchawan Village, Yichang, China. Using only natural materials, these stone houses seem to blend into the landscape.
The mutual connection between urban and rural life is clearly evident in this project, which was carried out by the architectural firm CAALADI. With the development of the concept usually adopted for hotels and accommodation places, city dwellers can now discover unknown country places for them. Rural areas are no longer accessible to a few privileged people, but are now open to a large number of curious visitors. It is with this perspective that the countryside takes precedence over design that the designers have built these three properties. Developing the local architectural vernacular, the traditional Yichang stone structure is the original reference of this achievement which preserves the character of the ancient Nanchawan village, in the continuity and progression of time. In addition, there are several buildings arranged on the hillside in an irregular pattern that continues and evolves the modern relationship to the site established with the old stone houses. This aims to create an aesthetic paradigm, promoted in the countryside by embracing the existing conditions of rural China and developed in the hope that its values can be carried forward into other future designs.
