BIM Architecture: Fujian Longyan B&A; B MIX Private Residential and Mixed-Use Design by Shanghai Lei Space and Architectural Design Studio-BIM WORLD

During my time living in Europe, I resided in a small countryside town called Chirico, near the main island of Venice. This town is quite remote from the city center, with limited transportation options — only two buses run back and forth. It’s surprising that in the 21st century, even a highly developed country like Italy still has such isolated rural towns.

I often enjoyed walking along the country roads with friends, observing the variety of rural buildings, most of which were homes. What fascinated me was how each residence reflected the personality of its owner, showcasing diverse tastes, preferences, and unique interpretations of life.

The houses varied greatly in shape and color. One residence particularly stood out to me: it resembled the Venturi Mother’s House in design. Its brown, rough walls were covered with numerous scallop shells, affixed from the inside out, creating an astonishing decorative effect. This playful gesture seemed to explore new possibilities in postmodern architectural language. Whether or not the owner hired professionals, this straightforward decoration brought a warmth and emotional charm that many “designed” buildings lack.

These homes evoke an image in my mind: a hundred faces, a hundred ways of living. This contrasts sharply with the monotonous, cookie-cutter residential buildings commonly found in rural China, which are arranged uniformly and feel impersonal and rigid.

Residential buildings should be as unique and independent as the people who live in them, each with their own personality. This uniqueness doesn’t solely depend on design techniques, but on how people understand “living” and their own bodies within space. Essentially, space should provide subtle guidance. The placement of each staircase, the position of partitions, and the scale variations within different areas all influence how people move and behave — whether running, stopping, sitting, or leaning. Together, these behaviors form the essence of “life.”

If these behaviors occur randomly and without meaning, the resulting life is basic, functional, conventional, and uninspired. However, if space also guides people’s feelings — perceptions such as sight, hearing, and touch — life becomes richer and more complex. Each sensation can spark endless thoughts and behaviors.

A well-designed space can infinitely expand these possibilities, offering guidance without restriction. As human behaviors and feelings continuously interact and overlap, space responds and evolves, manifesting in new forms of “human behavior.” For example, planting a new tree in the yard or hanging a new painting on the wall — just like the scallop-covered house — are ways space and life poetically influence each other.

The original design intention of this project was to explore this concept of “poetry” in living. Inspired by the owner’s vision, the building will serve as both a private residence and a homestay, despite limited available space. This dual function poses an inherent conflict between privacy and public use. We want to avoid awkward encounters between hosts and guests, but also don’t wish to isolate residents strictly to their rooms. Instead, we envision a shared space where living experiences are balanced.

When “encounters” between hosts and guests are unavoidable, we aim to transform this contradiction into an acceptable form of “beauty” by creating appropriate contexts and spaces for these meetings.

Our design guidelines for these meeting spaces are:

1. Regardless of the route, hosts and guests should maintain a comfortable distance.

2. Meeting spaces should be concentrated and limited.

3. Spaces for encounters should be open and non-mandatory in function.

4. Encounter areas should serve as activity nodes, allowing freedom of movement.

5. Encounter spaces should have flexible uses, adaptable to the owner’s preferences.

After analyzing the site and the spatial characteristics where encounters occur, we developed a simple zoning map. We finalized the basic layout by judging spatial proportions and organizing design themes. This concept of public space became the foundation of the entire project.