Chongqing Longfor Qianshan Xinyu

Qianshan Xinyu, developed by Longfor in Bishan District, Chongqing, sits beside the 700-mu Fengxiang Lake, the 21-kilometre Maolai Mountain range and 800 mu of lakefront parkland. Landscaped by WISTO Design with a team led by Li Hui, the 8,000-square-metre demonstration area was designed in 2018 and completed in 2019. Bishan is an ancient cultural city founded in the Tang dynasty, named for white stones that gleam like jade; its traditional eight scenic spots set a tone of quiet, withdrawn poetry that the design treats as the governing mood. The entrance combines a massive dry-stone wall with a heavy, almost motionless presence, greeting visitors with the solemnity of a mountain while alluding to reclusion. Inside, a four-waters-return-to-hall roof of finely lined timber-look panels and a broad metal eave creates a deep silence; a three-metre site drop is stepped into terraces of still and falling water whose sound is absorbed by the corridor's mountain-shaped curve. Before the sales gallery, a calligraphic sweep of water, a central island and a mature pine compose a painting in ink; the rear bamboo path offers the poise of a hermit. Of three initial schemes, the gallery series was chosen for its clarity, and was deepened by adding water and islands that echo the project's name. The trellis was evolved from a crescent to a full-moon curve, its roof stretched like a hill or cloud, with non-uniform column spacing resolved through structure rather than regularity; the roof is also curved and varies in width, pushing materials and craft. A cut in the roof lets moonlight, and in rain a mountain waterfall, stream down. The result is a restrained, calm composition that mirrors the lake and mountain rather than competing with them.