The “Three Rooms on the Roof” is an intimate conference and reception space, thoughtfully designed as part of a rooftop garden for a fintech company’s headquarters situated in a technology park. This rooftop garden spans across the roofs of three different floors, each featuring setback platforms. The roof housing the “Three Rooms on the Roof” connects directly to the executive office area to the north, offering a unique opportunity to blend the building with the garden into a scenic architectural feature.
Our design draws inspiration from the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s depiction of the “Three Rooms, Two Columns, Two Rooms, and Four Cuants” thatched cottage prototype, as described in “The Record of Lushan Thatched Cottage.” This traditional Chinese literati landscape model embodies simplicity and harmony, qualities that perfectly align with the project’s vision. We aim to create a serene “hidden peach blossom garden” suspended above the bustling city below.
The main structure—a three-bay building—is centered and slightly elevated on the roof. The largest bay in the middle functions as the reception room, flanked by smaller bays on the east and west that serve as the conference and dining rooms, respectively. Central axis swing doors separate the reception and conference rooms, allowing them to be combined into a larger space when needed.
The irregular L-shaped roof naturally forms two courtyards with varying widths and depths on the north and south sides of the building. The long northern courtyard faces two open rooms on the east side and serves as the entrance courtyard from the executive office area, leading to the reception room via a corridor. To the east, a gently rolling Shulang tree stone lawn adds texture, while the west welcomes a cascading waterfall.
The southern courtyard is expansive and elongated, featuring a horizontal infinity square pool that matches the width of the main building and aligns with the southern eaves corridor. At the pool’s western end, a sunken activity space is spanned by an outdoor tea house, which extends gracefully over the water. Bamboo lines the courtyard’s outer perimeter, creating a clear, transparent boundary where water and sky seamlessly blend.
The building’s double-eave design masterfully manages scale: the protruding lower eaves form surrounding corridors, while extending westward to the original roof elevator, creating a spacious open side hall that houses service areas such as a bathroom and small kitchen in the northwest corner. On the east, the eaves corridor stretches southward before turning into a complex corridor, serving as the eastern viewpoint over the Nanting Pool.
Both the north and south sides of the building feature continuous central axis floor-to-ceiling glass doors that can be fully opened during favorable weather. This design allows the “three rooms” to become transparent from north to south, seamlessly blending shade and sunlight with the surrounding garden environment.
The elevated platform accommodates the air conditioning ground supply system, while the main structure features a slender, lightweight steel frame complemented by warm, stable wooden finishes both inside and out.
The lightweight double-eaved roof, crafted with meticulous detailing, imparts a sense of freedom and balanced scale to the building. The titanium zinc upper eaves feature large skylights, while the lower eaves incorporate a sun panel roof. Together, they reduce the building’s visual mass. Beneath, a unified solid wood grille flat ceiling softly diffuses natural light throughout the interior and exterior spaces.
Design Drawings
▲ Location Map
▲ Axonometric Diagram
▲ Exploded Diagram
▲ General Layout Plan
▲ First Floor Plan
▲ East Facade
▲ West Facade
▲ South Facade
▲ North Facade
▲ Sectional Perspective
▲ Sectional Perspective
Project Information
Design Company: Zhizheng Architecture Studio
Location: Shanghai, China
Designers: Zhou Wei, Zhang Bin
Lead Architect: Zhang Bin
Project Architects: Jin Yanlin (Architecture), He Qian (Landscape)
Design Team: Li Zina, Xu Yue, Li Jinwu, Cha Dongni, Sui Lu (Intern)
Construction Cost: 2 million RMB
Landscape Cost: 3.11 million RMB
Building Area: 244.0 square meters
Project Year: 2017
Photography: CreatAR Images
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