Shimao

Yunzhu by Midea and Shimao is located in the Jiangnan misty-rain city of Changzhou's Economic Development Zone, immediately adjacent to the Dingtang River Wetland Park on the east, and the surrounding woodland together with the wetland forms an ecological urban-wetland space. The project's specific genetic condition is treated as an opportunity, and the design continuously re-examines the relationship between people and the residential environment. It proposes a forest-dwelling lifestyle that lets the surrounding natural environment spread into the otherwise non-natural landscape, building a deep, warm ecological community fused with nature. The composition is organised as one valley, one grove and one quiet court: neighbour to nature, the project seeks dwelling in a forest, and the space is divided into three realms in which every step shifts the scene, each realm holding its own charm and inviting chance encounters. The first realm, valley of wind, is a misty landscape through which the visitor tracks a hidden valley: cicadas call and the grove grows quieter, birds cry and the mountains seem stiller. The main entry takes nature as its inspiration and turns wind into a concrete, flowing feature wall that moves between valley, grove and water in mutual fusion, staging the image of wind rising through leaves and shadow. The urban edge is treated with a half-enclosed, half-open spatial hand, using undulating topography, terraced water features and themed sculpture to lift the eye upward, so that the building floats above the landscape as if grown out of it and achieves a state of harmony between architecture and landscape. Walking on, water murmurs, long stone steps layer up, star-like lights prick the path, and the visitor is truly inside the forest. The second realm, grove of forest, breaks the conventional commercial-street model by importing ecology and setting a forest-hidden mood, with playful water features supporting the scene to deliver a de-bordered natural commercial experience: bubbling springs, stepping stones by the water, the scent of grass and trees, and a soft breeze through sparse planting.