A private residence that reads like a Buddhist spiritual retreat. Not an easy synthesis to achieve as the clutter and noise of daily life tends to take over, if not immediately, then at least over time.
But for now, this recently completed residence in the rural Tangshan area in China?s northeastern Hebei province, represents perfectly the tranquil environment and reverent atmosphere that the design brief requested.
The project was executed by the Beijing-based design and architecture firm Archstudio www.archstudio.cn, established in 2010 by architect, Han Wenqiang.
While the inside of the residence is stunningly beautiful in its stark elegance, it is the outside that most deserves admiration.

The structure appears to be either burrowing into the low hillock or slowly rising from it. It seems both alien and perfect for the site that at first seems uninspiring and difficult, at least to the untrained eye. It is an almost flat, 500 square-metre (approx. 5400 sq.ft) wetland plot by the Luan river with only a few, bendy trees.

Yet now, when the 169 square-metre (1,800 sq.ft) house is complete, the design has not just preserved the seemingly unremarkable trees, it has revealed them to be spectacularly beautiful.
Two of the trees have become the gateway to the building and the defining feature from both the outside and inside.

The five separate segments of the structure ? the entry area, the meditation room, tea room, living room and bathroom – branch out from a trunk a...