Mansion In Nature

How would you design your home on a huge piece of land surrounded by nature — around 170,000 sq ft? When you have so much space, how much of it do you actually live in and use?

Inspired by classical Suzhou gardens, this extraordinary home is a microcosm of the natural world, composed of a modern luxury private mansion and a separated personal entertainment annex called The Chalet. A flowing koi pond surrounds the entire 170,000-square-foot premises, home to a total of 1,000 koi fish, surrounded by largely curated landscaping.

My name is Alex Lee, and I am from Design Seed. On today’s episode, we are taking you on an exclusive tour of a home in China with stunning landscape design and modern architecture. Join us in our new series to showcase extraordinary homes globally, capturing good designs and sharing their stories.

Today’s story lies in how 4 acres of land were transformed into a borrowed landscape for a family home, integrating nature and architecture. In modern home designs, this is a road less traveled, conveying a desire to follow nature.

A path winds among lush greenery, leading to a white stretch surrounded by tranquil water. A bonsai tree gracefully arches over the water. Still water mirrors the surrounding green, extending their visuals to a staged, majestic entrance to The White House.

True to its name, The White House has an elegant facade of white walls and glass — an image of serenity. The glass reflects the green forms of nature, while a cantilevered roof creates a grand sight of the home floating amidst nature and water, opening up the interior to the landscape.

Tall, grand doors beckon us in. The impression of a well-curated museum greets us, with staged art pieces and elegant displays. The living room is a minimalist composition of white ceiling and flooring, contrasted by dark furniture and mahogany walls. The dark colors bring much-needed warmth and contrast to the white.

What’s unique about this living room are the huge, full-height glass doors, allowing nature to spill indoors. Complementing this, the white tiles from indoors to outdoors further blur the boundaries.

“Hello, everyone. I am designer Nick. I’ve been in the design industry for nearly 30 years. Each year, I gain new insights into design. Why is the interior design here relatively minimal? Because the outdoor is stunning, so all the visual focus is directed outward,” shared Nick from Nick Design.

“This glass here is extremely heavy. It’s because the glass is so large that we customized it specifically. Manually pushing it back and forth was too labor-intensive, so we installed an automatic system.

This is The White House, so given it’s a white building, I wanted to make the roof and floor light in color, while the middle is darker. The middle’s dark tone gives weight to the space’s atmosphere — it anchors the entire environment,” Nick explained.

An open living and dining area creates an uninterrupted view of nature, enhancing spatial quality. A spacious western-style dining area becomes the closest point to nature in this home, allowing you to dine among greenery. In a similar design identity, the space is minimalist with a white ceiling and flooring. Darker dining furniture grounds the entire space and accents the surrounding green.

All the spaces are designed for healing — it’s about your state of mind and emotions. In a space like this, after spending time in it, you’ll find yourself letting go of all trivial concerns.

Deeper in the home is a Chinese-style dining area. While the western-style dining provides for social dinners, this creates a more intimate dining experience for the internal family. What’s unique about this round marble table is its sheer size and how a rotating lazy Susan is built in seamlessly in matching marble.

On the other end of The White House is a relaxing tea lounge with a grand piano. The wall designs, with built-in glass displays, act as a divider and tease the space with reflections of the greenery outside. The glass brings nature and light into the art.

The tea lounge is an eclectic mix of contemporary shapes paired with the rustic textures of wood. The open shelves and wooden slats create an interesting dialogue of vertical and horizontal elements.

Leading to the first floor, a grand staircase stands in stark white. Above, a skylight draws natural daylight in. Made of glass, the handrail visually extends the entire space seamlessly.

The design of the staircase is quite meaningful. Originally, the handrail was supposed to be placed on the side, but I intentionally shifted it inward. It adds a decorative element, and having the handrail in the center is safer too.

The master bedroom is in minimalist style, prioritizing the stunning scenery with a generous stretch of balcony. A view of The Black House, peeking out amid lush greens, greets us.

Every window in this house frames this beautiful green garden. With minimalist interiors, this draws eyes to the focal point of the scenery, bringing the lush landscape into the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the gym, and even the sauna — spaces professionally curated to a lifestyle of wellness and health.

The sauna and gym don serene and warm wooden tones. The sauna’s dark stone walls curate an intimacy of a sanctuary.

In contrast to the minimalist rooms, the child’s room is refreshingly playful — a well-curated playground of fun physical activities, with a vibrant climbing wall, built-in slide, and hanging chair. The steps also function as storage space in a clever space-saving hack.

Running through the koi pond, a white path leads us to the opposite side, where The Black House, known as The Chalet, stands in contrast. Vibrant greenery frames the entrance to The Black House, where growing trees climb upward through a circular hole carved in the roof.

The Black House is curated as an entertainment hub to complement the family lifestyle in The White House. Throughout The Black House, the ceiling of dark wooden slats and the tile flooring extends to the exterior, similar to The White House, blurring the boundaries between nature and indoors.

A luxurious private theatre creates a cozy and modern ambiance. A second tea room provides a more mystical vibe with rich dark wooden textures and atmospheric lighting. Next to it, a whiskey room, composed of luxurious black leather and dark reflective walls, creates a cavernous ambiance.

Atop a small hill, a path from The Black House leads to a Tea Pavilion. An exposed roof with modern rattan chairs creates a rustic yet modern feel. The combination produces a warm and natural interior ambiance.

This addition was something extra. Now, the house on the hill feels like a crucial piece within the space — an irreplaceable chess piece. It enriches the space, adding a sense of vitality.

Combining all the elements in harmony, this home celebrates the changing beauty of nature through the four seasons, healing its residents through its spaces. That is the beauty of landscaping.

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more interior design and architecture related contents!