Adjacent to the Jinniu Hotel and the Tianfu Art Park area, Guobin No.7 Courtyard is situated in the core display area of the Guobin sector, Jinniu District, Chengdu, specifically within the new Western Sichuan-style characteristic landscape zone. The overall planning, embodying the ecological civilization and the park city concept, aims to depict a Sichuan-style landscape painting featuring Western Sichuan courtyard elements surrounded by forests and water.

Spatial Layout of Community–Seeking new solutions for spatial layout within regulatory constraints

The site conditions are relatively stringent: a 24m height limit and ≤20% building density on the north side; a 15m height limit and ≤35% building density on the south side; a plot ratio of 1.4; and a greening rate ≥30%.

Calculations show that a combination of 8-story and 5-story buildings would offer more flexibility for spatial layout and shaping public spaces. But how to solve the problems of small spacing, poor equity, low spatial quality from conventional linear layouts, and the ≤3m floor height due to height limits?

The project adopts orderly, pinwheel-like, enclosed clusters as basic spatial units. The spaces are enclosed to form five courtyards with well-proportioned areas ranging from 1,273㎡ to 2,217㎡, providing the spatial conditions for creating exceptional landscape gardens, while also ensuring that every household has garden views, enhancing the value equity across different types of houses.

The enclosed layout creates super-large building spacings ranging from 30m to 50m. Compared to the 15m maximum spacing typical of linear layouts, visitors to this building can have a better spatial experience and privacy.

The building addresses the floor height limit by "borrowing height from underground," ensuring a floor height of ≥3.15m, providing more comfortable spatial perception and living quality for larger house types.

Traditional street and alley spaces connect the clusters and link the courtyards, forming four spatial layers: main streets, transverse lanes, inner courtyards, and outer plazas. This creates a residential planning structure that is orderly in its opening and closing, connected and flowing, traditional in ambiance, and efficient in use.

The facade design echoes the regional requirement for a new Western Sichuan characteristic style, combining practical functional needs like shading, shelter, and energy efficiency with elements like overhanging eaves and wooden grilles as direct visual expressions of this style.

Interior Spatial Layout – Breaking conventional perceptions, expanding the understanding of "time and space"

Although the enclosed courtyards might seem to create east-west oriented buildings, challenging the sole notion of "only north-south orientation makes good residences," the non regular north-south orientation of this project actually avoids buildings facing directly north or directly east-west. It breaks the traditional north-south layout and offers a new opportunity to reconsider overlooked orientations and sunlight exposure, presenting a new possibility for living and residential design.

China has a vast territory, and its residential sunlight regulations typically require effective sunlight duration from 9 AM to 4 PM. The design of Guobin No.7 Courtyard, in addition to considering the regulations-required "survival sunshine," also takes into account the morning and evening sunshine as usable design elements. By incorporating courtyards on the east, west, south, and north sides of the building and using full-height glass, the design allows residents to fully perceive the passage of daily time and the changing seasons from within their dwellings.

The interior spaces, integrated with the home courtyards, utilize a decentralized layout to create multi-dimensional and diverse flowing spaces where "halls and courtyards interweave." This more flexibly meets the diverse needs of different families while, within a limited spatial footprint, creating a garden-living experience where one can sense time, observe scenery, and encounter changing views with every step.

Project Name: Guobin No.7 Courtyard
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Address: Jinbi Lane Intersection, Jinqing Road, Jinniu District
Project Type: Residential
Year of Design: 2023
Land Area: 38,423.74 ㎡
Floor Area: 53,728 ㎡
Plot Ratio: 1.4
Designed By: gad
Construction Drawing Design: JZFZ Architectural Design Co., Ltd
Landscape: Change Studio
Interior: Zixiangge, WSD Shizun Design
Client: Chengdu Chengtou Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.
Photography: IN-FIELD studio
Architectural Design: Wu Yan / Guo Tongjiang / Luo Fang / Zhao Zhenhang / Wu Jie / Zhang Beiqing / Wang Haoyu / Zeng Cong / Liu Zheng / Liu Zhixiao / Chen Xiao / He Changyan / Han Yimeng / Song Yurui / Feng Siyi / Feng Yuanmeng / Xiang Mengjia
Technical Support: Huang Jia / Guo Junjie / Zhou Bo (Structure); Zhou Fengyuan / Yang Shengli / Zhou Xingyue / Wang Dingcheng (Equipment)