Vertical Courtyard Apartments
Hangzhou, China · 2002-2007
Photo · Photo by Lu Wenyu
A precedent for high-rise residential design that breaks down tower massing into a vertical neighborhood of stacked courtyard-like units, using cantilevered concrete trays and shifting volumes.
- What we like about this project
- The way the white concrete frames wrap around the corners to create deep, sheltered outdoor loggias.
Materials
- concrete
- stucco
- dark-brick
- glass
- steel
Visual identifiers
- stacked-trays
- vertical-courtyard
- cantilevered-slabs
- cellular-facade
- shifting-volumes
Style tags
- critical-regionalism
- modernist
- structural-expressionism
Visual tags
- high-rise-housing
- monolithic-concrete
- cellular-rhythm
- chinese-modernism
- cantilever
- Geometry
- A high-rise residential tower composed of stacked, shifting horizontal concrete trays that frame individual double-height and single-height volumes. The tower features a stepped, L-shaped footprint that transitions into a curved, lower-slung block in the background.
- Facade system
- Concrete frame structure with recessed glazing, dark brick infill, and projecting white stucco-finished concrete slabs.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete column-and-slab frame with deep cantilevered edge beams.
- Spatial scale
- A multi-story residential tower of approximately 15 to 20 stories, with human scale maintained through the articulation of individual balcony voids and window frames.
- Lighting
- Diffused, bright daylight under a lightly clouded sky, casting soft shadows beneath the deep cantilevered concrete slabs.
- Atmosphere
- A calm, structured presence where heavy concrete frames are lightened by open-air voids and shifting geometries.
- Environmental context
- Set behind a dense green buffer of trees, with a low-rise urban landscape visible in the far background under a wide sky.
- Spatial experience
- The facade reads as a vertical stack of individual houses or courtyards, breaking down the monolithic scale of a typical residential high-rise into a cellular, domestic rhythm.
- Composition rhythm
- A complex, syncopated rhythm created by alternating single and double-height voids, shifting window placements, and projecting white concrete frames.
- Style reading
- Critical regionalist modernism
- Program
- Multi-family residential apartments
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, stucco, dark-brick, glass, steel
- Visual identifiers
- stacked-trays, vertical-courtyard, cantilevered-slabs, cellular-facade, shifting-volumes
- Style tags
- critical-regionalism, modernist, structural-expressionism
- Visual tags
- high-rise-housing, monolithic-concrete, cellular-rhythm, chinese-modernism, cantilever
- Geometry
- A high-rise residential tower composed of stacked, shifting horizontal concrete trays that frame individual double-height and single-height volumes. The tower features a stepped, L-shaped footprint that transitions into a curved, lower-slung block in the background.
- Facade system
- Concrete frame structure with recessed glazing, dark brick infill, and projecting white stucco-finished concrete slabs.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete column-and-slab frame with deep cantilevered edge beams.
- Spatial scale
- A multi-story residential tower of approximately 15 to 20 stories, with human scale maintained through the articulation of individual balcony voids and window frames.
- Lighting
- Diffused, bright daylight under a lightly clouded sky, casting soft shadows beneath the deep cantilevered concrete slabs.
- Atmosphere
- A calm, structured presence where heavy concrete frames are lightened by open-air voids and shifting geometries.
- Environmental context
- Set behind a dense green buffer of trees, with a low-rise urban landscape visible in the far background under a wide sky.
- Spatial experience
- The facade reads as a vertical stack of individual houses or courtyards, breaking down the monolithic scale of a typical residential high-rise into a cellular, domestic rhythm.
- Composition rhythm
- A complex, syncopated rhythm created by alternating single and double-height voids, shifting window placements, and projecting white concrete frames.
- Style reading
- Critical regionalist modernism
- Program
- Multi-family residential apartments
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture