GMA ARCHITECTURAL & URBAN DESIGN: Winner of World Design Awards 2023. The Spring Blossom is a residential community located in the west of Helan County, Yinchuan. It enjoys convenient transportation, as the site is adjacent to Hengyi Road and Zhengnuan Road on the south, which link the community with surrounding areas.

Population aging has become a severe social problem. The project is intended to offer a solution to tackle the aging problem, and to construct a community for home-based elderly care in Yinchuan City. It aims to enrich the later life of the elderly with satisfaction and happiness in a community full of care and love, which will contribute to the construction of a harmonious society.

The gross floor area of the project is 256,292.23 square meters and the plot ratio is 1.022. The master plan includes a residential area and a supporting wellness facility area. The residential area consists of a classical Chinese courtyard house zone, a Neo-Chinese-style townhouse zone and a low-rise building zone belonging to the Greentown’s Osmanthus Grace series.

Based on the existing conditions of municipal roads around the site, an access for motor vehicles is placed on the south and east sides respectively, which are linked to a semi-circular road set in the site. In the central area, a landscape belt in a natural form directly connects two accesses. The semi-circular road, the central landscape belt and the pedestrian pathways within the site naturally partition off the three residential areas.

The traditional Chinese philosophy – “the unity between people and nature” – is incorporated into the classical Chinese courtyard houses. With elements such as  pavilion and corridor from traditional Chinese courtyard living culture, the design creates a residential environment with a humanistic touch, and peaceful homes among green mountains and clear waters. The garden-styled layout and architectural design are a response to the reputation of Yinchuan – known as the “watery place beyond the Great Wall”, where the project name originates.

The Neo-Chinese-style townhouses are designed with a court in the front and a yard at the back, an integrated dining and living area, and a living terrace on the rooftop, which does not separate the dwellings from the city and meanwhile forms a close relationship with the nature, reflecting the ideal of pure, simple and cozy living.

The low-rise building zone is in low density, and is organized with several building cluster centers. The buildings are in great width and narrow depth with wide-view balconies and bay windows, and the layout design of the homes offers warmth and care for the occupants. The facade reveals Oriental understated luxury and combines classical and modern aesthetics, which results in a modern, unique yet simple building image.

In the supporting wellness facility zone, the rehabilitation center is equipped with about 700 beds and is accommodated in three high-rise buildings ranging from 6 to 15 stories on the north side of the site. Besides, the elderly care center set at the center of this zone covers a total area of 7,664 square meters, which provides services including traditional Chinese medicine therapy, hot spring recuperation and organic diet therapy to the community as well as the public. GMA intervenes in the architecture through a simple, restrained and resolute design approach, and connects various parts of the building complex through a spacious entrance hall. The goal is to create a relaxing and comfortable building and interior environment close to nature, and a medium for promoting the communication between man and nature to offer the elderly a quality living environment. Besides, a kindergarten with 9 classes is set on the northeast side of the plot to fulfill the local demands for preschool education.

The project builds a modern community based on Chinese courtyard living culture and the interpretation of traditional aesthetics. Through creating a series of spatial scenes that stimulate the interaction between modern life and contemporary aesthetics, the design not only injects poetry into current life and but also brings beautiful expectations for future life.

Project Details
Firm
GMA ARCHITECTURAL & URBAN DESIGN

Architect
Shu Jiehua, Hou Xiaoliang, Wu Guohua

Project Name
Greentown·The Spring Blossom, Yinchuan

World Design Awards Category
Residential Apartment Built

Project Location
Yinchuan

Team
Chief designers: Shu Jiehua, Hou Xiaoliang, Wu Guohua; Design team: Qiu Liuni, Gao Yaqin, Zhang Hangbao, Lao Jieting

Country
China

Photography ©Credit
©SCHRAN

GMA was established in 2012. It is an architectural design grade—A agency dedicated to exploring relationship between architecture, human settlements, and urban & rural areas. GMA takes both creativity design and project management as two development direction, and builds design master and cultivates professional design teams. The projects cover high—end residences, commercial offices, boutique hotels, leisure and cultural tourism, and social welfare, and the projects are all over the country including most provinces and cities. Most of the works won various domestic and international design awards.