Shaped by Landscape - Architecture Between Mountains and Waters

‘We explore how contemporary architecture engages with the relationship between nature and the artificial within the context of the Chinese conception of shan–shui (mountains and waters),’ says Meng Fanhao. ‘Through three projects at different scales—the Erhai Lake Waystation as a small-scale intervention, the Lotus Mountain Estate at a medium scale, and the Guyuan Huaxiang Art Center in Lishui at a large scale—the talk examines how architecture responds to terrain, water systems, and patterns of habitation across varying spatial conditions. ‘Our work articulates an architectural stance rooted in the Chinese understanding of landscape, in which nature is regarded as a continuous and enduring condition rather than an object to be replaced or dominated. Architecture operates through restrained artificial intervention, participating in the organization of space and the formation of order, and seeks to reconsider the relationship between nature and the artificial within contemporary modes of construction.’