Architects: Hangzhou Shihe Design
Area: 450 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Hanmo Vision – Yigao
Principal Architects: Chen Kezhi, Wang Zhiqiang
Client: Ms. Xiong
Location: Suzhou, China

A Home That Breathes: Architecture as Emotional Resonance

Nestled in the historic water town of Suzhou, the Tongli Villa by Hangzhou Shihe Design transcends conventional residential design by transforming space into a living, sensory companion. Completed in January 2025, this 450-square-meter retreat is less about architectural spectacle and more about cultivating emotional depth, stillness, and a profound connection between inhabitant and environment.

Led by principal architects Chen Kezhi and Wang Zhiqiang, the project redefines domesticity by prioritizing atmosphere, texture, and time over rigid formalism. The result is a home that doesn’t just shelter but listens, adapts, and evolves with its resident Ms. Xiong becoming an extension of her daily rituals and memories.

The Courtyard: A Stage for Nature’s Poetry

At the heart of the villa lies a central courtyard, a meditative space where light, wind, and rain perform an ever-changing ballet. Sunlight drifts across rough-hewn stone floors, while fallen petals and soft breezes traverse the open threshold, blurring the line between inside and out. The architects deliberately avoided decorative excess, allowing natural rhythms my not artificial interventions to shape the home’s character.

Rain is not shielded but invited in, with water pooling and dispersing across tiles under a muted, ambient glow. This intentional embrace of weathering ensures the architecture ages gracefully, its materials rammed earth walls, reclaimed slate, and warm pine wood developing a patina that deepens its emotional resonance over time.

Materiality as Memory: A Tactile Dialogue

The interiors are an ode to quiet materiality, where every surface tells a story. Rammed earth walls absorb sound, creating a hushed atmosphere, while recycled wood and rubble lend a tactile, time-worn quality. The architects selected materials not for their luxury but for their ability to evoke nostalgia and comfort, ensuring the home feels lived-in from the moment it’s inhabited.

One designer reflected:

“I’ve worked on countless projects, but never have I seen a homeowner so profoundly moved. It wasn’t about the design’s aesthetics—it was about how the house became part of her life.”

Rejecting Conventional Luxury: A Space That Listens

Unlike typical high-end villas that prioritize visual grandeur, Tongli Villa measures success through emotional inhabitation. The architects discarded traditional markers of domestic prestige opulent finishes, rigid layouts in favor of flexibility, silence, and sensory engagement. The house doesn’t demand attention; it accommodates introspection, becoming a vessel for its resident’s solitude, growth, and daily rhythms.

Conclusion: Architecture as a Living Companion

The Tongli Villa is not a static structure but a dynamic participant in Ms. Xiong’s life. Its beauty lies not in frozen perfection but in its capacity to adapt, weather, and resonate emotionally. Here, design is not an end but a beginning a framework for a deeper, more mindful way of living.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The Suzhou Tongli Villa reimagines residential architecture as an emotional conduit, where space nurtures stillness and memory rather than imposing formal grandeur. While the project excels in fostering a profound inhabitant-architecture bond, one might critique its minimalist approach as potentially limiting for those who crave more dynamic or versatile living environments. However, this restraint is precisely its strength—by eliminating excess, the design amplifies the quiet beauty of everyday rituals, proving that the most meaningful spaces are those that listen more than they speak.

Architecture Exhibitions & Conferences

ArchUp offers daily updates on top global architectural exhibitions, design conferences, and professional art and design forums.
Follow key architecture competitions, check official results, and stay informed through the latest architectural newsworldwide.
ArchUp is your encyclopedic hub for discovering events and design-driven