design et al are delighted to announce that David Chang Design Associates International Ltd have been shortlisted for Residential £5 Million Plus (Property by Value) Award in The International Design and Architecture Awards 2017.

David Chang Design Associates (DCDA) drew inspiration of the Grasse Town S2 project from a town named Grasse in southern France. The town is considered the capital of perfume. The project is located along the bank of Wenyu River in Beijing surrounded with 300 acres of forest and wed land, and home to rare species of bird. A new concept of French suburban classical villa living style is developed.

This is a very unique project in Beijing due to 5 major factors. First, it is the largest European architecture single-family residential community in Beijing with 3,400 acres of land. Second, 70% of the total site is covered with trees and bushes to establish a total of 1,100 acres of European style garden. Third, 30,000 square meters’ area is for shops and markets, 200 acres is reserved as farm land for residents, 600 acres of sports park and hotel. Some of the unique accessories DCDA acquired during their design research were: a Portuguese 100% copper steam distiller from Ai-Ambiq (founded in 1837), an antique tellurian shaped cigarette musical box, a pair of limited edition porcelain tigers by Derosa, Tea set from Haviland, an 18th century antique embroidery art and a whisky tasting set from Scotland.

The show villa is 543 square metres. The first floor and second floor are all 3.6 metres in height whereas the garden floor (basement) is 3.9 metres in height. The total living room area is 62 square metres. The dining and entertaining areas is 89 square metres including bar, kitchen, dining room and theatre. The total area for the master is 122 square metres including master bedroom, bathroom, walk in closet, and den. The villa consists of 3 levels. The main traffic flow concentrated at the ground floor entrance, stair and elevator lobby which also leads to the upper and basement floor. The ground floor has a living room, music room, 2 recreation rooms and an ensuite for the clients’ elderly guests. The second floor consists of an ensuite for a child, study room, and a master quarter. The basement floor has Chinese kitchen, western kitchen, dining, theatre, and a guest ensuite. The traffic flow connecting 3 floors has been kept very simple and direct to maximize the usable space for functional living.

The project began in December of 2015 and completed in October of 2016. The location is in Shunyi District of suburban Beijing which is less than 6 kilometres from the Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3. David Chang and his team went into a project conceptual analysis phase with design style direction and characters set up right after they received the project. Due to the tight design schedule, the entire project took approximately 10 months. The cultural and historical values in this show villa are attributed to the combined accessories presence of afternoon tea in the first floor, blindfolded tasting of scotch in the basement bar, and steam distillation for essential oil right by the entrance. DCDA even took a long journey to Las Vegas to import accessories necessary in this show villa.

The original architectural structure for the living room has an open ceiling to the upper floor.  In order to create an exclusive den in the upper floor for the master while being able to give living room higher ceiling, they designed a new living room ceiling 45 cm higher than the one adjacent area on the same floor. Merging a French classical style interior with local Chinese culture is another interesting challenge. The designers introduce the Chinoiserie furniture, arts and accessories from late 18th century France into this show villa to reflect the close European classical tie with the Chinese culture. The design concept for this show villa derived from the spatial concept of classical Greek motifs and Roman interior architectural elements. Greek Corinthian detailing on the capital, baseboard, and crown moulding, with splendid French classical floral relief motif on the ceiling are presented throughout the Interior space. The soft colour palette from ivory to pastel was used in the entire villa to create an inviting and relaxing living environment while possessing a sense of luxury.

DAVID CHANG DESIGN ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL LTD