The natural granite walls of this German Baroque inspired architecture are carefully carved into details showing its strength and permanence.

With a minimum requirement for the density and a ban on single family detached homes, any project site with prior approval for villas is valuable. Especially was central to city life. Our client had such a parcel.

When we joined the project, the development team already had a strong idea for the direction for the project character.  I was to be based on the architecture of the Shanghai Bund, an older area of the city where foreign companies, including many banks, set up their operations along the river many decades ago.  The styling is primarily a version of baroque. Heavy stone walls and abundant classic details are signatures of the architecture in the area. Our client wanted a similar character for their project.

Unfortunately, when we joined the project the land planning was already designed and fixed. The layout was not ideal for a villa lifestyle where large yards and a street facing façade are key features. This presented a big challenge as the pricing was high, but the site didn’t support the product type. Based on this, we decided to orient the villa life to the interior of each home rather than out to the yard and views.  As the homes evolved, they were designed around wonderful interior rotundas, inner courtyards, and interior decks for outdoor living.

The basement became an important amenity and was the primary entry for vehicles and likely the everyday experience for the owners. In addition to the entertainment functions on this level, we designed a grand entry connected to the rotunda staircase to make the experience as good as if the entry was on ground level.

Exterior styling was inspired by the Bund architecture. The developer decided that granite was to be used on the exterior of the villas as well as the walls of the interior courtyards. Keeping the interior experience as high quality as possible.  The stone finishes are designed in a variety of textures to capture the strength and permanence of the original Bund architecture.  Each detail was carefully designed and crafted to keep the flavor of the architecture that was the inspiration.