Hong Kong-based architectural practice, Index Architecture, has designed the Tapered House project. Completed in 2012, the contemporary family holiday home is located in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, China.
The client wanted to build a small holiday home, and also wanted somewhere to display his vast collection of Bruce Lee memorabilia.
According to the architect: “There is a sharp terrain drop of over nine meters along the south edge of the site, forming a miniature ‘cliff’. Beyond this point are two-storey vernacular houses and modern residential high-rises. The north side faces back to this tranquil residential community. With the short-term accommodation (vacation house) and the semi-public nature (display gallery) in mind, the housing mass is divided into two distinctive yet connected parts.
“The gallery space is placed along the south to form a visual anchor to define the edge of this community with a landscaped garden in front. Since the displayed items, mostly the first- edition movie poster, are all very sensitive to natural lights, window openings are carefully placed along this telescopic gallery to allow natural light entering discreetly into the contemporary Chinese home.
“The windows also frame distant views beyond. Adjacent to the gallery is the living studio. The master bedroom overlooks the double height living room, which provides direct access to the garden. The openness of the garden is somewhat balanced by a sense of enclosure and privacy from the elongated concrete mass. It is a visual buffer and back-drop for the gardn. Exterior is of raw board-form fair faced concrete to reflect Bruce Lee’s fundamental belief in ‘being no rule is the rule; being no limit is the limit’.”
Images courtesy of Hunga Chan
