Gold Coast Villa Allows Residents to Take A Break from Fast-Paced Life
Home is a place to rest after a long day of work. For AD Architecture’s client, Gold Coast Villa is their cozy home full of love. While everyone’s asleep, the owners of the villa are bustling at the local fruits and vegetable market from 1 AM and 5 AM, living a life upside down, day and night. The house was intended to create a healing “harbor” for the family, to slow down their fast-paced life, and to be a container of cheers and laughter.
The architect explains that the villa’s original facades were formed by sandstone masonry and lacked maintenance for a long time which caused major challenges in later upkeep. The design team transformed the decorative lines and colors of the architectural facades despite various limitations. Opportunities, however, sprouted through these limitations. The design intervention helped create new landscapes and open up the space. The facade renovation makes the villa appear simple and bright.
The project is located in the coastal city of Shantou, Guangdong. From downtown, the owners drive about thirty minutes to their healing home. AD ArchitectureArchitectureThe art and science of designing and constructing buildings, structures, and spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. It encompasses the planning, design, materials, and techniques used to createGo to Architecture Glossary’s main concept for this project is to create a comfortable home tailored for the residents, a place with restrained comfort and unique “mediocrity.”
The house features French windows facing the garden to introduce natural light into the interior and guide residents’ sight lines to the outdoors. Meanwhile, the open living and dining area integrates into nature, evoking infinite imagination. It also strengthens the connection between the occupants and the space.
Moreover, the design team incorporated simple sintered stone floorings, natural stone wall panels, leather sofas, and wood veneers with soft edges into the interior to echo the outdoor natural landscape. It sets a soft tone for the home, as well, where the occupants can feel a sense of security.
The architect adds that the living and dining area emphasizes a sense of enclosure of the home and intimacy among family members. They added revolving doors at the entrance of the dining space. The team also replaced the villa’s original windows with large-scale glass to introduce outdoor greenery into the indoor space. Having large areas of glazing enhances visual transparency while at the same time bringing a unique spatial experience.
The design also focuses on daylight and ventilation in the basement. The daylighting area and ventilation were enlarged when the skylight was transformed. The convection of air, meanwhile, effectively solved the humidity problems in the basement. “Staircases connecting each floor of the space are the “core” of the project. In the stairwell space, sunlight falls on clean gray sintered stone flooring, unadorned natural stone boards, and wooden veneers, revealing a harmonious and natural ambiance emphasized throughout the design,” AD Architecture explains.
The team aims to slow down time in this home and to let the residents feel comfort, purity, and tranquility. They have effectively arranged the lighting in different directions. Varied openings are present in the house to allow light at different seasons and periods to penetrate the interior.
The villa has a tea room that combines delicate textures with landscapes, encouraging communication through simple design expressions. Residents and guests can enjoy a sweeping view of the outdoor scenery while drinking tea through the large French window. This element also enables the harmonious fusion of indoor and outdoor landscapes.
Lastly, the bedrooms are characterized by a balance of openness and privacy, light, and shadows. Creating a concise and orderly space provides a peaceful atmosphere for occupants. The architect explains that the living area and undisturbed resting areas provide a restraining and comfortable environment. Once the owners come home, the busyness, bustle, and noise are all blocked out of the door.
Photos by Ouyang Yun
Frequently Asked Questions
Gold Coast Villa is a renovated home in the coastal city of Shantou, Guangdong, designed by AD Architecture. It is about thirty minutes from downtown and was intended as a healing harbor for a family who work at a local fruit and vegetable market from 1 AM to 5 AM.
The villa’s original sandstone masonry facades had lacked maintenance, which made upkeep difficult. The design team transformed the decorative lines and colors, opening up the space and creating new landscapes, so the facade now appears simple and bright, according to the architect.
The interior uses simple sintered stone flooring, natural stone wall panels, leather sofas, and wood veneers with soft edges to echo the outdoor landscape. In the stairwell, gray sintered stone, unadorned stone boards, and wooden veneers form what AD Architecture calls the core of the project.
French windows face the garden, and original windows were replaced with large-scale glass to introduce outdoor greenery. In the basement, the skylight was transformed to enlarge daylighting and ventilation, and the architect says the resulting air convection solved the humidity problems.
The design includes a tea room with a large window onto outdoor scenery, bedrooms balancing openness and privacy, and an open living and dining area emphasizing intimacy. Revolving doors at the dining entrance and varied openings let light in across seasons and periods.
