Yixuan Liu

advisor

University of California, Berkeley

United States of America

Yixuan Liu has led multiple high-profile architectural projects from concept through construction,… more

The design of this project presents a restrained yet gentle architectural attitude. The intent for the general concept is about calmness, clarity, and contemplation, which was achieved through the use of soft colors, considered ordering of space, and proportion. The project is not an exercise in visual exuberance. It instead offers comfort and solitude through a subtle sense of order and economy of materials. Such an unassuming proposition reflects a kind of sophistication: it reveals an awareness on the part of the designer that at its best present-day domestic architecture offers not an excited formal arrangement, but instead a place for balance, contemplation, and calm sensory experience in the best possible way.
However, from the standpoint of architectural spatial experience, the project tends to be overly safe. While the project achieves completeness in structural and functional terms, it lacks the human element that lends subtle warmth to transform space into place. Comfort is a physical condition, while warmth is emotional, and the project fulfills the former, but not the latter. While the space feels calm, it is emotionally inert: there is little light rhythm, little tactile variation, little sense of discovery or memory. Solitude is treated as privacy rather than reflection. If we were to introduce moments of temporal experience into space, such as a quiet seat by a filtered window, changing daylight across textured walls, or a soft gradation of transparency, the architecture could begin to speak to the inner life of its occupants.
The relationship between the house and its surrounding landscape also needs deepening. The house shouldn't simply sit on the land, but grow from it. The border between inside and outside is a bit abstract. By introducing some transitional thresholds (like a shaded porch, or a framed court, or a path where light and shadow direct the movement) the design could root itself in both the climate and the ritual. The palette is elegant but understated, and could benefit from the addition of local tactility as well, maybe wood grain, or stone, or fabric, or clay, which can conjure up both the passage of time, and a memory of tactility. These sorts of small adjustments would help convert the project from an object to an inhabitable space that breathes with the inhabitator.
Practically, the structure and layout are well considered, but further refinement in environmental performance could enhance comfort and sustainability.If more thought were incorporated into evolving the use of natural ventilation, solar orientation, and shading, the design could achieve its full potential as a passive comfort design, where the architecture itself regulates temperature and light as opposed to the ordinances of mechanical systems.

A few suggestions:
1. Introduce subtle gradients of illumination. Such as narrow vertical openings that filter morning light, or deep window reveals that cast long shadows during sunset. This will make the interior dynamic over time, transforming stillness into quiet drama.
2.Instead of thinking of the indoor to outdoor threshold as a line, think of it as a sequence. a shaded porch, a partially enclosed reading nook, or a small plaza. These in-between zones provide both psychological ease and climatic transitions.
3.Currently, the use of gas-block walls and flat, subdued colors can create a sense of visual calmness, but it does not evoke sensual layers of depth. By introducing warm, natural materials such as unrefined wood, textured plaster or some form of natural texture, you can engage the touch and memory senses. The simplest of contrasts in texture will enhance emotional presence without compromising simplicity.
4.Incorporate small retreats into the overall plan — a place for writing, a window seat, a stair landing that can be used for everyday contemplation. These places can become "islands of introspection" in the estate, taking the idea of solitude and marrying it to spatial narrative.
5.Allow the landscape, pathways, and seasonal variability to also become part of the everyday experience. A framed view of a tree, an open courtyard to rain, or a garden that signals seasonal change through color will mediate time and breath life into the house.