Huangshan Mountain Village | MAD Architects

The Huangshan Mountains (Yellow Mountain) in Anhui Provice, central China, has long been a place of verdant scenery, composed of limestone cliffs that have long inspired artists and offered sheltered spaces for contemplation and reflection.

Having now become a popular tourist destination thanks to the publicity it received by its UNESCO Heritage status, plans were made to build a high-density village that would echo the contours of the surrounding topography while conserving the iconic landscape.

MAD Architects design for this village comprises of low-rise residences for housing, a hotel and communal amenities. Intermixed around the village are communal amenities and walking paths that encourage residents to wander among the buildings. In total there will be seven hundred apartments, all of which are planned to be completed by 2014.

The design’s form evokes the geology of the region and provides a link to the southern slope of Taiping Lake. The geometries of architecture and nature are examined in the design, with a strong emphasis of layering of horizontal planes that vary in shape and grow out of the ground as they are stacked upon one another. This effect allows for the apartments to become a quiet retreat with an immersive, natural space, and a spacious balcony that overlooks the lake.

Each floor of each building is unique and accessed from shared social spaces, creating a seamless balance between private and public spaces. To incorporate more of the scenery and natural environment into the design the use of local materials, plants and greenery are integrated into the design, adding to the feel of comfort and well-being as well as a closer connection with the local culture.

The village in its entirety appears to resemble a mountain range in itself, where each floor and layer of the buildings forming a manmade stratigraphic occurrence that is not only elegant with its simplicity, but also relatively modest and unobtrusive to its environment.