Flanking the historic Jinniu Hotel and Tianfu Art Park, Guobin No.7 Residence has been one of our most high-calibre and efficiently delivered projects in recent years. Situated within the Jinniu Hotel character-protection zone, the development inherits an overarching planning vision of a “Shu-style scroll of western Sichuan courtyards, forests encircling water.” Building on this, the architecture proposes a clear ambition: “to live in a garden, where the residence itself becomes a garden.”

For the landscape, this sets precise yet demanding conditions. Under the dual premise of respecting traditional Sichuan courtyard character and positioning the project as a piece of urban ultra-luxury, our task is no longer simply to “decorate” the ground plane, but to ask: how can landscape negotiate between inherited form and contemporary desire? How can it honour local architectural lineage while generating new product value and new ways of living?

Finding innovative, playful landscape expressions and spatial experiences within this tension became the starting point of our design thinking.

The windmill-like, encircling layout of the buildings naturally choreographs the masterplan into a series of multiple courtyards, while opening up an unusually generous 30–50 metres of spacing between blocks. This urban porosity gives the landscape rare freedom to breathe.

Yet we never intended the landscape to remain a scene merely on the ground, to be looked down upon. Allowing greenery to infiltrate the architecture vertically—to seep through different floor levels—became the core concept and strategy of this design.

The buildings themselves are kept relatively low, giving trees and planting the chance to grow up to meet the window line. Forest, courtyard, and water are defined as the three primary landscape elements, and the view orientation of all 168 units is carefully considered within the landscape framework. By aligning topography with the anticipated height of tree canopies and layered planting, we craft precise view windows from each residence.

In this way, the landscape is composed as a continuous, richly textured ecological system, extending from the ground plane into the sky — a vertical garden tapestry that quietly threads itself into daily life.

Seasonal mosaics of planting seep into every window view; that essential, unobstructed wash of greenery, framed solely for me, becomes the landscape’s most intimate gift.

Low eaves at the entrance interlock to form a compact little “settlement”; with just one turn of space, you step directly into nature. As the mood shifts into an inward-looking woodland courtyard, we hide, just behind the gate, a dense grove of silver birch rising vertically through the air. Their shade, stirred by wind and water, shakes loose a quietly unhurried stretch of time.

Here, the flowing terrain gathers into a chain of “mountains on water” — and time is no longer something that slips away, but something gently held, carved, and kept.

Within the woods, a single jade-like bridge is laid down, growing in tandem with the flowing terrain; it is both the main route home and an emblem of “folding nature into luxury.” Walking along it, the eye is drawn first to the trees ahead and the mottled textures of stone underfoot, allowing a brief moment of wandering through the forest before arriving at the spaces beyond. Through this deliberate restraint, what emerges is a western Sichuan courtyard landscape where woodland, water, and dwellings are quietly interwoven.

The enclosing building form naturally gives rise to five large courtyard interiors. We wanted each courtyard to have its own distinct scene, yet still be woven together into one continuous, “infinite garden walk.” The landscape braids a winding woodland stream with paths of varying widths, fusing them into a single loop with richly shifting spatial moods.

Narrow channels and wide sheets of water, forest paths and decks hovering over the stream all work together within a low-density, carefully composed ring of multiple branching routes. As the water system lingers and turns, it subtly internalises the houses as if they were islands, each with its own character. Through moments fast and slow, open and enclosed, the landscape holds space without judgement — a quiet framework for residents to lay down their bodies and their thoughts.

Since ancient times, scholars have journeyed into Shu, and “all the finest writings under heaven come from Sichuan.” Drawing on classical poetry that depicts the everyday life of Sichuan literati, the landscape extracts a rich repertoire of cultural symbols and takes inspiration from the surrounding natural and human context, capturing the land’s unique temperament. As recorded in the General Gazetteer of Sichuan from the Wanli period: “The common folk are simple and rustic, while the scholars are unrestrained and elegant.” This blend of rustic grace and gentle refinement—talent and wit hidden within an easy, unaffected demeanor—is precisely the distinctive literary character of this region.

Within the park, five courtyards are tucked away, each composed as a natural yet cultivated scene derived from poetic lines. The demonstration area presents one of these five scenes—the River Banquet Courtyard, “Youjiang Ting”. It is inspired by the historical description: “Those who travel here ride great boats like houses, adorned with colorful paintings, strung together bow to stern, drifting upon the waves to the sound of drums and strings, where music and voices rise in cheerful clamor.” It evokes a grand gathering on the water, while subtly echoing the social, communal role of the clubhouse itself.

Within the garden, the boundary between landscape and interior is gently blurred. Multiple program volumes are scattered along the creek, each locking into a different scene, forming a series of finer, more relaxed small courtyards nested within the larger garden system. The conventional, linear clubhouse circulation is dissolved into bridges, water, and woodland; whether meeting friends or drifting off alone, every user can discover a corner of the garden that feels comfortably their own.

Within a frontage of thirty-five metres and a depth of just three, the front courtyard orchestrates five distinct functional zones and scenes, each carefully aligned with a corresponding interior window view. The narrow forecourt becomes a compressed garden journey, full of small pauses and moments of surprise, while the generous side yard opens its arms to the interior, effectively becoming an extension of the living spaces themselves.

The design is not complicated; its strength lies in the precision of execution. A calm, finely tuned palette, honest wooden furniture that feels both simple and alive, soft, skin-friendly textiles, and a scattering of old objects that hold memories of Sichuan all come together to shape our vision of a courtyard with a true sense of “home.”

Our idea of contemporary urban seclusion is more than simply a place to live; it is a home that can hold time. The staggered, layered terraces and courtyards are not only spatial extensions, but stages on which the four seasons quietly perform — cherry blossoms drifting in spring, deep shade in summer, maples washed in autumn light, snow lying in winter silence. Framed views draw these scenes indoors, becoming a never-ending, moving landscape on the walls of everyday life.

We have turned the landscape into scenery for 168 households, yet what moves us most often hides in the smallest of moments: looking out through a full-height pane of glass as sunlight filters through treetops, scattering dappled light and shadow across the floor and sofa. In that instant, we feel closer to the ground, more aware of life flowing gently around us, and somehow, healthier.

Project Name: Guobin No.7 Residence
Location: Jinniu District, Chengdu, China
Site Area: 38,423.74 ㎡
Design Period: 2024
Completion: 2025
Client: Chengdu Urban Investment Zhidi Group Co., Ltd.
Client Team: Chen Weilin, Yan Xiaoxun, He Peiting
Landscape Design: Change Studio
Architectural Design: gad (gad Design)
Interior Design: Zixiange, WSD Design
Landscape Construction: Sichuan Dajia Environmental Art Engineering Co., Ltd.
Photography: EarTARS