Subsequent Architects chose each ribbed terracotta and smooth granite to clad the buildings of this housing development in China, which are stacked to maximise views above a close by river and mountains .
Lianjiang Butterfly Bay is a substantial-density housing improvement set on the banks of a branch of the Min River, to the north of Fuzhou in Fujian Province.
Up coming Architects – a Dutch firm with an office in Beijing – produced a mixture of three- and four-storey-high residences, each and every comprising a stack of irregular blocks clad in pale grey granite and warm-toned terracotta.
This arrangement generates nooks for private terraces, which are sheltered by the overhanging floor slab of the residence above. A comparable technique has been utilized in numerous other residential tasks – from Ole Scheeren’s Singapore housing complicated to a concrete housing block in Paris.
“We sought to generate optimum exterior spaces, blurring within and outside although at the identical time exploiting views more than the surroundings from the interiors,” stated Next Architects spouse John van de Water. “The alternating colour combinations helps make the architecture blend into its all-natural surroundings.”
Associated story: Next Architects creates rippled facade for Fuzhou apartment block
The residences are organized in rows along finger-like regions of land that stretch out in the direction of the river and mountains.
Narrow inlets in between every single of the fingers are filled with gardens and swimming pools. Parking is situated underground, leaving these avenues totally free for pedestrians.
“The backdrop of the site – 360-degree mountain ranges – is basically beautiful,” van de Water informed Dezeen. “And then there is the proximity of the river. We had the ambition to exploit this elegance, to maximise conditions for inhabitants to expertise the surrounding nature.”
“On an urban scale we developed the abstract reference of fingers touching water,” he added. “This idea touches on the Chinese perception of the relation in between man and nature.”
A pair of taller towers with decorative facades and glazed balconies sit inland at the back of the website. Gardens and patios decorated with concentric circles of red and grey brick situated around the base of the towers link to the tree-lined avenues that run down to the river.
Connected stories: see a lot more irregularly stacked boxes
Subsequent Architects opened its Chinese workplace in 2005. Other projects by the company include a hilltop staircase that creates the illusion of an limitless walkway and an apartment developing with rippled facades.
Photography is by Up coming Architects.
Task credits:
Architecture: Following Architects
Team: John van de Water, Jiang Xiaofei with Wopke Tjipke Schaafstal, Wang Bo, Wang Yan, Zhou Tong, Yu Peng, Yin Ya Ling, Wen Qing, Wang Fei, Jiang Ci Ai, Liu Feng Qin, Ren Wan Ting
Diagram 
Diagram Dezeen
