ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design

Jun 2009

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Houses , China, Ordos 100, Yazdani Studio

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Architects: Yazdani Studio
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009-2010
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China

Located in the southwestern part of Inner Mongolia, in Ordos City, the Kaokaoshina New District is an emerging art and cultural district organized by Ai Wei Wei. Kaokaoshina is positioned to be a thriving tourist destination, in anticipation, the development calls for a series of villas for people to live and visit to experience this incredibly unique part of the world.

The concept of Villa I is based on a hybridization of the traditional housing of the Mongols – the yurt – and the Chinese – the use of a central courtyard. The yurt is suited for nomadic life, and like the Chinese, Mongols live within the boundaries of a village. Additionally, the experience of building is embodied in three ideas: circulation, metamorphosis and lightness.

The design uses the notion of circulation to choreograph a dance between the person and the building – there are multiple, indirect paths which loop through the building. Along these paths there are a series of arranged social spaces, each offering uniquely framed views of the elements – sky, earth, and water.

Villa I is not a single object but rather a space in the process of metamorphosis likened to cellular mitosis. The northern face of the villa is a single vertical rectangle; the shape and proportion of a door. The southern face is two overlapping horizontal rectangles; two giant windows. Tying back to the idea of circulation, the movement throughout the building activates this transformation. Scales and proportions change radically – thus circulation and movement spur the metamorphosis.

Lastly, the building was created to be light – hovering above the ground, filled with sunlight and without a clear inside and outside. The site evokes purity and rawness, the design respects the site and so sits above it. The illusion that the Villa is floating above the dunes and the grass is hopefully achieved; and the use of glass to evoke transparency and connectivity to nature hopes to engage the visitor with the site rather than the building itself.

: master plan

: site plan

: first level plan

: second level plan

: third level plan

Cite:
Saieh , Nico . "ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design" 01 Jun 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 07 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/23355>

Comments (32)
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Pazey says:

Класс!!!

# June 1, 2009 at 13:08

CMO ARCH says:

Looks pretty baller.

# June 1, 2009 at 13:17

urbArAmA says:

RT @archdaily: ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio http://bit.ly/rfdeA

# June 1, 2009 at 14:21

rafael martin says:

#architecture ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio http://tinyurl.com/l8bvpc (via Archdaily) Ta aí, abaixo a caixinha.

# June 1, 2009 at 14:55

Design Metafeed says:

#architecture ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio:
Architects: Yazdani Studio Location: Ordos, Inner Mongo.. http://bit.ly/WPhqa

# June 1, 2009 at 15:48

Lucas Gray says:

Wow, someone actually acknowledged they are building in a desert! Unfortunately they didn’t quite show they are in a suburban development surrounded by other houses. Still, not a bad little (huge) house.

# June 1, 2009 at 14:48

2MACoff says:

ЭТО АХУИТЕЛЬНО !!! !!! !!!

# June 1, 2009 at 15:13

Scarpasez says:

This is my favorite of the ORDOS houses yet. As a standalone statement, that means little, for most of the ORDOS projects I find – if not downright offensive – then examples of the exact sort of excess, arrogance and foppishness that makes architects the deserving butt end of jokes. Yet this house rises above that, and though it’s a monster of a home, and surely quite a pig when it comes to energy resources, its concept and design execution are very strong. I’d love to see some sections in addition to the plans and renders.

# June 1, 2009 at 15:21

Dustin says:

I agree, finally a decent ordos house. It is a mistake though to put it alone in the renders when it is surrounded by other buildings. Good job though. Looks good.

# June 1, 2009 at 16:00

jason says:

very nice. On the list of most improperly used arch. cliche’s I think ‘without a clear inside and outside’ has to be in the top three. the design is great, but there is definitely a clear inside and out.

# June 1, 2009 at 16:31

Fino says:

The best ordos project yet. No need for further critique just because of that.

that is all.

# June 1, 2009 at 17:12

JuanLuisBurke says:

isn’t a south glass facade going to allow a lot of light and heat in and isn’t that going to require a lot of cooling and heating?

or am I wrong?

# June 1, 2009 at 18:33

fl!p says:

a wide roof eaves at the south would shade the inside. im not sure how wide is needed in that part of china..

# June 1, 2009 at 20:12

Romas says:

The main elevation looks like Rojkinds Casa pR34 http://www.arcspace.com/architects/rojkind/caspr34/caspr34.html

# June 2, 2009 at 01:35

bothands says:

For what its worth, this is actually not an official Ordos 100 villa (not one of the 100 architects ‘selected by H&DeM’), though it is part of the larger Ordos development — the site is separate from the 100, and Yazdani is not in the 100…

# June 2, 2009 at 01:45

PARTICK BATEMAN says:

in years to come people will visit the ORDOS project. disaster tourists, rubberneckers and those wishing to see the worst masterplan in existance outside the suburbs of provincial British towns.

# June 2, 2009 at 03:01

Miguel Ângelo says:

http://tinyurl.com/n3sk6s My favourite ORDOS house till now! #arch #architecture #arq #arquitectura

# June 2, 2009 at 07:13

Francesco says:

The best one from ORDOS so far, all the other ones are a little bit odd, there’s a difference between modern and green to ugly and uninteresting. I mean, people will actually live in those houses (I guess). Another thing, I’m not that into this ORDOS whatever, it is, I’m sorry, plain silly to me. Mongolia? A bit far.

# June 2, 2009 at 10:17

Ben Barber says:

ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio – http://shar.es/H5aq – cant wait to see this completed !

# June 2, 2009 at 11:38

Yazdani Studio says:

from @archdaily – what are your thoughts on our project? http://tinyurl.com/l8bvpc

# June 2, 2009 at 16:59

Bruce says:

nice!I saw it before.um…In canon design shanghai office.

# June 3, 2009 at 01:04

provecho says:

What’s the concept? I mean, besides: “Whoa! Forced perspective!!”. If you stand at just the right point, does it disappear altogether? This thing looks cool (I like white boxes as much as the next guy), but it has ZERO resemblance to a Mongolian yurt.

# June 3, 2009 at 01:20

kummer says:

some of that ordos project are really nice – but this house is not that much, looks like a house of a heting commercial or something simmilar like that…

# June 3, 2009 at 15:28

Enrique Naranjo says:

ORDOS Villa: Yazdani Studio http://bit.ly/2zoMQ

# June 4, 2009 at 06:36

ernesto dalmar says:

I think this is one of Ordos 100 worst works… I don’t like the idea of this house. And the interior space is not well resoluted at all. Look at the bedrroms and bathrooms, this is a house maked by little residual spaces (and it has a lot of space to avoid doing this).

This is a project made to sell, to impress. But i think it is a very bad house. They designed it in a whim, it’s a very tirant shape/form that they tried to turn into a project

# June 4, 2009 at 17:59

bergkamp says:

貌似老艾的作品 http://bit.ly/2zoMQ

# June 5, 2009 at 11:36

mEmusleh says: