The Zhongkai Sheshan Villa is a high-end, gated residential community located at the foot of Sheshan Mountain within the Sheshan National Travel Resort, approximately 45 minutes west of Shanghai.  The master plan integrates 79 thoroughly contemporary villa designs from 17 Western architecture firms, within a setting designed to emphasize features that reflect nature.  All 79 villas and Club House/Guest House are connected by a man-made waterway that meanders through the 46 acre site.  This water feature forms the spine of a shared, natural corridor that runs through the rear of each lot.  The natural corridor provides vegetative screening from adjacent and opposing villas, while allowing views to the water’s edge and beyond to the backdrop of Sheshan Mountain.  Each villa landscape is enclosed by garden walls, with veneers to match each respective villa character and to complement their abutters.  All site walls lining the central boulevard and side alleys are designed with limestone facades to unify the composite nature of the community’s architecture.  Careful detailing was required to transition between changes of materials and points of intersection between each distinctive villa, as well as  connections to the  boundary site wall.  

The Zhongkai Shesan Villa Master Plan contains two major gateways that allow access to the site; the architectural North Gate and the mountainous South Gate.   The South Gate reflects the view of Sheshan Mountain in the distance.  This man-made mountain stretches across the southern border of the site, varying in height up to a maximum of 10 meters, and encircled by a moat that is connected to the site’s main water feature.  Planting pockets are built into the rocky façade to provide vegetative cover, while numerous waterfalls animate this monumental structure. The boundary of the site is encircled by a moat which is supplied by the site’s main water feature.

The Club House/Guest House functions as the community center and gathering space for the inhabitants of the Zhongkai Sheshan Villas.  Arrival at this facility by car allows passengers to be dropped off under dynamic fabric canopies at the Guest House Entry Court.  The Guest House provides a reception area, business lounge, kitchen, dining area, senior center, guest quarters and suite.  Between the Club House and Guest House is a fine dining restaurant which spills out onto elevated terraces that overlook the project’s main water body.  Extending even further over the water are “floating” patios accessed by stepping bridges that pass over shallow reflecting pools.  On the opposite side of the dining room is the open-air pool with cabana court spaces, separated from the Guest House by a shallow reflecting pool.  Gently arching bands within the paving serve to unite each space while reflecting the geometry of the architecture.