The Design Philosophy of Letting Nature Live in the Courtyard in Self-built Landscape Villa

At the boundary between the city and nature, self-built landscape villas are uniquely interpreting the progression from “living with a sense of home” to “living with a sense of poetry”. Unlike mass-developed villa products, the core charm of self-built landscape villas lies in the fact that the owners can outline the way of living with nature in the courtyard with their own hands - letting the sunshine, grass, trees and running water become the protagonists of the courtyard rather than the “decoration” that has been carefully pruned.

Self-built landscape villa courtyard design, the first to learn to “retreat”. In Hangzhou, a self-built landscape villa courtyard, the owner retained the plot of land in the original three old camphor trees, around the trunk to create a circular walkway, the tree set under the green stone tea table. In the summer afternoon, the sunlight through the branches and leaves sprinkled dappled light and shadow, the shallow stream next to the tea table to attract the flow of mountain spring water, cicadas and the sound of water intertwined into a natural white noise. This idea of “not forcibly transforming nature, but borrowing from it” is the most moving design philosophy of the self-built landscape villa: the courtyard is not an artificially sculpted ‘bonsai’, but a naturally grown "slice ".

The choice of materials is the key to let nature “live” in the courtyard. Beijing suburbs of a self-built landscape villa courtyard, the ground did not use flat cement blocks, but the use of local river beach cobblestones paved, the gap between the natural growth of moss and clover; walls do not have to be impermeable masonry, instead of bamboo fencing, vines climbing along the fence, the four seasons present a different sense of green. The owner said, “The advantage of self-built landscape villas is that they can jump out of the bounds of standardized materials and use the most simple natural materials to let the courtyard breathe.”

The integration of function and nature makes the courtyard an extension of life. In a self-built landscape villa in Suzhou, the courtyard is separated from the interior by floor-to-ceiling glass, outside of which is a gently sloping lawn dotted with several early cherry blossoms. When the cherry blossoms fall in spring, sitting in the living room you can look out over the “cherry blossom rain”; in fall and winter, the bonfire area on the lawn is connected to a wooden platform, and when the family sits around, they can look up and see the wisteria trellis hanging down from the villa's second-floor terrace. This “indoor and outdoor without boundaries” design makes the courtyard of the self-built landscape villa not only a rest space, but also a medium for dialog between nature and life.

The courtyard design of self-built landscape villa hides the respect for “time”. Nanjing, a homeowner in the courtyard of the self-built landscape villa, planted pomegranate trees, loquat trees, plums, spring has new green, summer has shade, autumn has fruit, winter has a dark fragrance. He purposely left a “blank space” in the corner of the courtyard and planted seasonal flowers and plants every year according to his family's preferences. “The courtyard of a self-built landscape villa shouldn't be static; just as nature has the cycle of seasons, the courtyard should grow with time.” This dynamic design thinking allows the courtyard to “slowly grow old” with the occupants, precipitating a unique life imprint.

In the final analysis, the courtyard design philosophy in the self-built landscape villa, but is to return to the essence of “symbiosis between man and nature”. When the owners planted the first sapling with their own hands, attracted the first wink of living water, and watched the courtyard grow slowly over the years, they will understand: the best design is to let nature breathe freely in the courtyard, so that the residents in the daily life of the self-built landscaped villa, can touch the temperature of nature at any time.