bamboo-clad fo shou house at sifang art museum by mansilla y tuñon

bamboo-clad fo shou house at sifang art museum by mansilla y tuñon
image © sifang art museum

spanish practice mansilla y tuñon has completed the ‘fo shou’ house which comprises part of the sifang art museum in nanjing amongst a range of projects from internationally-known architects.  elevated slightly off the ground, the home is defined by rather amorphous floating walls between two concrete planes. two screens make up the conceptual premise of the building- an inner membrane of glass that supports the roof and an outer screen of evenly-spaced bamboo stocks. as such, the definition of the home is somewhat blurred as exterior partitions fold into themselves and what seems like interior is exterior and vice versa. the exterior-most wall of semi-transparent slender columns provides a certain level of privacy at the same time allowing views to the surrounding nature.  with operable large glass panels surrounding the conditioned space, an interstitial zone is created between fully interior and fully exterior zones that further erases the hard boundaries of the house. four bedrooms and bathrooms are tucked away below grade, where the floating structure reveals a basement level enjoying full privacy in an environment quite different from the transparent form above. a paved driveway serves as a parking area and a smaller satellite structure contains utilities and storage space.

image © trevor patt

image © trevor patt

image © trevor patt

image © trevor patt

image © sifang art museum

image © sifang art museum

image © sifang art museum

image © sifang art museum

image © trevor patt

image © sifang art museum

image © sifang art museum

image © designboom

image by mansilla y tuñon