ORDOS 100 #13: NAO

This villa is located in plot #62 of the ORDOS project.

Architects: Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss / NAO
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Project team: Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, E Thaddeus Pawlowski, Kevin Keller, Julia Murphey, Deborah Katz, Ding Liu, Margaux Schindler, Kristen Smith
Renderings: Benjamin Muller & NAO
Construction Consulting: Miodrag Jovanovic, Ruzica Jovanovic, Snezana Litvinovic
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China
Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China

Ordos 100 will be a collection of architecture. NAO designed Villa 62 to collect the changing weather of the desert. The outside of Villa 62 can best be described as a continuous shelving system. The skin is designed to keep weather elements on the facade: snow, sand, rain and moss, changing during the four seasons of the year. The shape of Villa 62 is like a contoured hilltop. The hills in inner mongolia are traditionally contoured to collect and preserve ground and water from dispersion into the desert.

As on a hill the Villa 62 is traversed via multiple paths and ways of going up, down or around. There are two main promenades that define the architecture of the villa: one outside and one inside. The outside promenade is an ample and open path along the landscaped areas all the way to the top of the building. The evasive shape of Villa 62 comes from the play between the public and the private areas. Villa remains recognizable in extreme weather and light conditions. Coal and milk are two most important assets of Ordos industry. Wrapped in copper elements Villa 62 will go through stages of color change from orange to green, and then eventually turn black and have a color of coal. The interiors of Villa 62 will remain milky white.