Tapered House by Index Architecture:
“The client wanted to build a small vacation house in the suburb
area of Shunde, P.R.C. He would like to display his collection of Bruce
Lee memorabilia, whose family history originated from Shunde as well.
The trapezoidal site tapers out from the west to east totaling 670
square meters (7,212 square feet). It is the last parcel of land to be
built upon for an exclusive residential community.
There is a sharp terrain drop of over 9 meters (30 feet) along
the south edge of the site, forming a miniature “cliff”. Beyond this
point are two-storey vernacular houses and modern residential
high-rises. The north side faces back to this tranquil residential
community. With the short-term accommodation (vacation house) and the
semi-public nature (display gallery) in mind, the housing mass is
divided into two distinctive yet connected parts.
The gallery space is placed along the south to form a visual
anchor to define the edge of this community with a landscaped garden in
front. Since the displayed items, mostly the first- edition movie
poster, are all very sensitive to natural lights, window openings are
carefully placed along this telescopic gallery to allow natural light
entering discreetly.
The windows also frame distant views beyond. Adjacent to the
gallery is the living studio. The master bedroom overlooks the double
height living room which provides direct access to the garden. The
openness of the garden is somewhat balanced by a sense of enclosure and
privacy from the elongated concrete mass, It is a visual buffer and
back-drop for the garden and the community. Exterior is of raw
board-form fair faced concrete to reflect Bruce Lee’s fundamental belief
in ‘being no rule is the rule; being no limit is the limit.’”
