This villa is located in plot ORDOS project.
Architects: I|K studio – Mariana Ibanez, Simon Kim Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China Project team: Chris Shusta, Anthony Dimari, Juta Cinco, Aimee Epstein, Michael Powers, Elizabeth Bishop, Carnaven Chiu Structural Consultant: Paul Kassabian Design year: 2008 Construction year: 2009 Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China Constructed Area: 1,000 sqm aprox
Our design strategy begins with the articulation of the landscape in a system of terraces bound by measurement. All edges are vectors that have an origin, direction and magnitude. As such, they can be used to process a third vector that is a cross-product. The derived verticals are not only markers of mathematical models but are here used as a design tool.
An extension of the vector cross-product, the house is a collection of terraced fields that adhere to the programmatic elements of the 1000sqm house; composed in a specific manner to allow for a serial unfolding of tableaux that generate views of the house in a cinematic sequence. House 4-2-1 is composed in a movement of four to two to one that progress from the ground where there are 4 separate towers that climb upwards to two towers, and combine into the final, single level. This simple system of bifurcation is amplified by the programmatic divisions that challenge the organization of a typical house.
