What does your ideal life look like?
Writer Feng Tang once envisioned it this way:
We need a larger yard,
With trees—fruit trees or flowering ones, preferably;
A view to enjoy, even if you see it every day,
Where the scenery changes with each passing day,
You reflect on last night’s dream,
You spend some time talking with yourself,
And your days become rich and fulfilling.
Courtyard, Landscape, Countryside
In today’s fast-paced urban life, these poetic elements have become especially precious. Particularly in the post-pandemic era, the journey from one’s bedroom to living room has become a “domestic tour,” while terraces and yards serve as gateways to a “global tour.”
The small courtyards of Dali redefine an ideal lifestyle rooted in tranquility and nature, offering a fresh possibility for travel and living.
01 Diverse Layers, Deep Integration with Contemporary Travel
Location of the Venue
Geographically, the small courtyard model area in Dali is nestled beside Cangshan Mountain, adjacent to Qingbi River, located along the golden scenic route of Dali Shangri-La. This unique setting offers lush forests, pristine hydrological surroundings, and rich, diverse ecological resources.
The proximity to Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake cultivates a perception of a slow, peaceful, and pure environment.
△ Aerial View
From a product standpoint, the Xiaoyuan series has evolved continuously, upgrading from version 1.0 in 2015 to version 10.0 today.
The challenge: how to innovate the design of the Small Courtyard Central Living Experience Center while preserving the original landscape’s essence?
02 The Aesthetics of Mountains and Water: The Benevolent Enjoy Mountains, the Wise Enjoy Water
△ Overall Plan
This project primarily targets non-local investors, who value landscape quality, lifestyle, and the experience of ethnic and cultural heritage.
Therefore, the design of the experience center focuses on creating a tasteful natural habitat, ensuring unobstructed views and abundant greenery, while fostering a humanistic and artistic living experience.
△ Theme Placement
Building on the natural, tranquil ecological environment, the landscape team skillfully integrates design elements.
They extracted the concept of “one mountain, one lake, one stream, and one courtyard” from the site’s ecological surroundings, corresponding to Cangshan Mountain, Erhai Lake, Qingbi Creek, and Xiaoyuanzi respectively, incorporating these themes throughout the space.
As Confucius said, “The benevolent enjoy mountains, while the wise enjoy water.” Mountains and water symbolize the essence of all things in the universe and carry the legacy of Chinese culture.
△ Panoramic View
Throughout the creative process, the Manga Landscape team conducted thorough research, on-site inspections, and engaged extensively with homeowners living in the small courtyards.
By carefully considering customer relevance, living environment features, and lifestyle habits, they crafted avant-garde, contemporary, and culturally rich spaces that offer a natural, humanistic, and artistic travel and vacation experience.
03 Shanhaibian: Balancing Softness and Rationality in Life
Wen Zhenheng wrote in “Changwu Zhi: Water and Stone”: “Water is distant, stone is ancient; garden water and stone are indispensable.”
In the small courtyard, essential elements such as architecture, stacked mountains, water management, and flora work together to create a continuous spatial atmosphere and a tangible sense of place.
Entrance Experience
Bixi Stone Surge
△ Main Entrance
The site’s entrance features natural undulating terrain with significant elevation changes.
The challenge was to transform these height differences into a unique highlight that artistically separates the new model area from the original one.
△ Entrance Path
The design team explored numerous possibilities for the entrance, seeking the best way to convey the site’s unique characteristics.
Ultimately, they embraced the site’s attributes and cultural tourism context, choosing local materials such as rough stones, black tiles, and green bamboo to express an authentic “local” aesthetic.
△ Entrance Design Process
△ Front Courtyard Details
An orderly linear landscape wall marks the entrance, creating a flexible space that combines charm and water. This design nurtures an original ecological walking and viewing experience throughout the park.
Embrace the Experience
“Over the sea grows the bright moon.”
△ Model Area
A gentle breeze sweeps over the sea, touching plants, trees, and houses. The courtyard maintains material consistency with the area, enclosed by rubble, and carefully designed for safe viewing and play.
The outdoor platform connects in parallel with the lawn area, creating a level interface that greatly expands visual continuity and activity space.
△ Midfield Details
△ Midfield Path
Plantings in the outdoor lawn area are combined organically to create a relaxing vacation atmosphere.
The courtyard’s sunshade is thoughtfully designed at an appropriate height based on sightline analysis, ensuring residents enjoy unobstructed views indoors and outdoors.
△ Midfield Path
The staircase and flowerbeds blend seamlessly at the same level, creating a tranquil atmosphere where stepping onto the path feels like entering a painting, with blossoms underfoot. Walking slowly along the path, one can rediscover a long-lost sense of home.
Gazing at the Mountain
A gentle breeze drifts from the mountains
© Gong Quan
Gazing into the distance, the breeze gently stirs the heart of nature. The path behind the house stretches far, seemingly reaching the foot of Cangshan Mountain.
△ Back Courtyard Details
△ Midfield Details
In the rear space, the designer created a boundary-free environment where houses, land, and air seamlessly blend, allowing all life forms to move freely and naturally.
△ Backcourt Path
Wind-powered devices placed along the path produce a gentle “ding ding dang” sound, reminiscent of leaves rustling through the forest. Can you hear it? It is a message from Cangshan, where the wind takes on a tangible form.
△ Backcourt Space
This design is not only intended for nature education but also creates a memorable landscape feature through wind and mountains. It transforms the outdoor space into an interactive environment for play, exploration, and appreciation.
It awakens emotional memories, stimulates the five senses, invites admiration of nature, and provides a soothing natural soundtrack for life in the mountain courtyard.
The Courtyard
Zen Realm to Pure Joy
△ Sunken Courtyard
The courtyard reflects the changing seasons—rain falls, flowers wither—embracing the poetic transformations of life.
Shanhai Qianyang harmonizes lifestyle aesthetics within the small courtyard, continuing the brand’s culture while engaging with discerning customers and modern lifestyles to shape a contemporary aesthetic.
Every form, material, and light source is carefully designed to restore warmth to the space, encouraging residents to reflect inwardly and experience peacefulness, purity, and rustic charm.
A small courtyard under the night sky © Gong Quan
Residents describe their days here as working at sunrise and resting at sunset; with morning bells and evening drums marking their rhythms. Brilliant galaxies hang in the night sky, while the scenery shifts through blooming spring flowers, blue summer mountains, colorful autumn forests, and enchanting winter days.
Postscript
Coming for a Better Life
△ Original Terrain
△ Construction Process
△ On-site Discussions
Manga is a growing creative design company that brings innovative thinking from concept to real-life implementation, engaging in a “light intervention” dialogue with nature.
They continually explore contemporary expressions of traditional culture, using youthful design language and innovative landscape forms to capture and present the “beauty of vacation,” creating spiritual spaces of taste and tranquility.
Wherever you arrive, a unique and quiet landscape awaits, embodying the slogan of the small courtyard: “Come occasionally, or always.” This is the dream island created by the small courtyard.
Project Information
Project Type: Cultural and Tourism Town
Location: Dali, Yunnan
Landscape Area: 3353 m²
Project Name: Small Courtyard Central Living Experience Center in Dali
Owner: Strength Rongchuang Cultural Tourism Group
Owner Landscape Management Team: Zhou Wei, He Jiao, Xu Chenggang
Landscape Design: MANG Manga Landscape
Design Team: Zhang Kexin, Wang Siqi, Yin Ying, Qian Xue, Yuan Jiahao, Feng Zhuming, Yan Ruyu
Construction Drawing Team: Wan Ying, Zou Hongbin
Plant Design Team: Huang Dan
Architectural Design: Shanghai Riqing Architectural Design Company
Project Photography: Luan Qi
Project Promotion: Brand Management of Several Dozen Brands
© All rights reserved. Please contact Manga for reprinting.
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