We were commissioned to design the interior of an 800m2 villa in Kunshan China. A concrete shell at first, the developer-built interior structure was disorganized and inefficient with awkward interior circulation. The three floors of the residence were not vertically connected with a single staircase, but rather split between a large ceremonial spiral stair to access bedrooms above and a hidden fire stair for access to the walk-out large basement level.

Our client wanted to create a grand interior befitting of her family’s affluence, but was also keen to differentiate the design of their home for that of their neighbors. Our first gesture was to create a unified space as the backbone of the home – a large double-height vaulted ceiling creates a sense of grandeur without resorting to the extravagance of Loius XIV décor and gold leaf ornament, something so prevalent in the high end residential market of suburban China. Our doubly curved vault maximizes the ceiling height beneath a suburban pitched roof architecture while creating a smooth venetian plastered volume that exhibits the play of natural light. This space houses the ceremonial entrance, the formal living area, fireplace and a new glass staircase.

The elliptical glass stair was introduced to connect the 3 floors of the residence with a single sculptural gesture. Using slumped glass with a gradient frit, the balustrade of the stair masks the structural steel and creates a poetically foggy effect which the client began referring to as a ‘cloud’.