The Villa is composed by two types of spaces separated by a camouflage carpet – two brick skin cubes that house the private spaces of the villa's owner and worker above the ground and over the carpet; common reception spaces at the underground level, under the carpet.
Over the Carpet: the private spaces of the villa's owner and the villa's worker are located in two distinct cubes juxtaposed side by side.. Each cube materializes by its size its relative portion in the program. The two cubes are covered with brick skin. Since in China gray brick is twice more expensive than the red brick, the big cube of the villa's owner is covered by a gray brick skin and the small cube of the villa's worker is covered by a red brick skin. The two cubes have separate and private access from the main underground entrance floor and from the ground floor camouflage carpet.
Carpet: most of the plot is covered by a generic carpet that reproduces a "Woodland" standard camouflage pattern. This generic camouflage landscape hides all the common and luxurious parts of the villa from curious gazes either from the street or from Google Earth. The camouflage pattern of the landscaping will be formed by hollow paving –upside down hollow concrete 2 holes (40/20/20) blocks. According the pattern, the hollow parts will be filled with different plants or fillings (chosen according the seasons or taste). The carpet is perforated by square openings in 3 measurements.
Under the Carpet: protected from sandstorms and wind, the underground level houses the entrance and the reception areas, 3 inner gardens and patios, swimming pool and common and leisure facilities in one open space".
Credits
Architects: Babel Architectures (Sharon Rotbard, Dan Hasson, Yuval Yasky) Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China Architect in Charge: Sharon Rotbard Project team: Sharon Rotbard, Dan Hasson, Yuval Yasky Collaborators: Shira Gleitman, Jessy Feng, Igor Shevchenko, Amit Mandelkern, Omer Barr Structural Engineer: Yitzhak Rokah Photos: Roee Boshi Design year: 2008 Construction year: 2009 Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China
