In 2017, PBW was asked to design several vacation housing prototypes for a new resort near Yellow Mountain in China. The clients soon added master planning to the list of design tasks: the zones for the prototypes each needed to balance differing density requirements, typologies, and landscapes, alongside an area for the resort's reception building.
Through the course of designing the master plan, a high density requirement for one of the zones gave rise to a new type, the courtyard house, which in turn influenced the final design of the prototypes that were meant for that zone.
Contrasting to this higher density zone, which was on the flattest part of the site, the steepest and trickiest terrain zones were given more breathing room between houses -- dubbed the "hill houses" -- creating a feeling of a retreat deeper into the woods.
