The China Expedition continues…
For the last 2 years, we have been quietly working on our first project in Nanjing, China.
DHaus was selected to join a Chinese team to design 50 new townhouses in a historic neighbourhood of Nanjing, Southern China.
We have been working on this project since October 2024 and have just come back from our 2nd trip to China.
The second trip has been totally different, a much calmer affair, we are still on the firm amazingly, so all the butterflies and nerves of the first trip were not as bad, just a crazy hunger to explore and test new ideas for the Chinese client and the project In front of us.
The Nanjing masterplan competition
Phase 1 was an internal competition for the overall masterplan, which was the main reason we were brought in, to have a fresh set of eyes on the current design status quo.
There were 3 architects battling to win the internal masterplan competition:
- Architect #1, Mr L
The overall masterplan architect, based in Beijing, who does all of the clients buildings, and was the architect that obtained the permission for the mass and layout of the 50 new homes
- Architect #2, Mr P
The interior Architect that was very local to the site, and was already an established member of the clients team
- Architect #3, DHaus
And us! (Wildcard!)
We tried to fuse a very British ordered façade with the softness and playfulness of the Chinese sloped roofs and textured bricks.
Perhaps it was just too much of a risk for the Chinese clientele and we completely understand that they know their clients more than we do, we sadly lost the first major competition we were invited to, but Neo didn’t make that jump in the Matrix first time round either.
They went for proposal 2. (Mr P) and its incredible we must say. It sits in beautifully within its context and is really well put together, not just from a construction point of view but the harmony of the materials and the gardens especially.
They built all 50 houses with a two-storey car park and landscaping in 7 MONTHS!
We find it hard to finish a side extension in London in 7 months.
Luckily we got along well with the client and they decided to keep us on the team, they gave us one of the new Town Houses to design the interior of so we have been working on Phase 2 for the last year!
A townhouse interior that began in Paris
Weirdly enough the concept of our new Chinese townhouse interior started its life in Paris.
Last year we won our first architectural job in Paris. We did a pop-up shop at the end of 2024 in Le Marais, showcasing our dynamic DTables.
A chap came into the shop and asked what this thing was. We replied, “It’s a Table”.
He then said: ‘’I’ll buy it’’ and promised to come back in a few days, it got to the last day of the show, and sadly he never returned….
However, just as we were closing on a busy Saturday in Le Marais, we saw a wife pushing her husband into the shop and they asked what that thing is?
We replied: ‘’It’s a Table’’
The husband then said as he was flicking through our DHaus Book, “if I buy the table can I have the book for free?”
‘’For sure’’ we replied and sold our first table in Paris.
A week after we closed the Parisian Pop-Up Shop, we received a call from the husband, asking if we would come over to their place and if we would consider designing their penthouse for them, 30 seconds from the Pompidou.
It is an amazing old property in the heart of old Paris.
We took a projector from London and presented our ideas to the client on site gorilla style.
Our initial concept for the scheme was La Sculpture.
What really struck us on our first site visit to the building was the existing fireplace that ran through the apartment and projected above the roof level. Our scheme proposed raising the roof and preserving this chimney as a sculptural element that also became a piece of furniture.
Our concept was to unify the kitchen, the beginning of the staircase and the chimney as a single sculptural element.
Long story short, we presented the design to the French planners and…. they refused it, as they said we were not allowed to touch the roof in any way, and that was that, our heads rolled!
But to quote Andrew Taylor from Patel Taylor Architects:
“Nothing is ever lost”
During a design session in our London studio with some down time drinking tea, the Chinese client asked us what other projects we were working on so we showed them the Paris Apartment.
They loved it and asked us to do something like this for one of their townhouses in Nanjing.
When one door closes, another door opens!
It was our job to fit out the shell of the Nanjing townhouse.
Carlo Scarpa and the Nanjing townhouse
During long discussions at our London studio concerning the Nanjing Townhouse we expressed our mutual admiration and love of Carlo Scarpa, the Italian Architect famous for modernist work in Venice, Italy
We discussed with the Chinese client the ‘’Scarpa Step’’ and how Scarpa created a sculpture from the staircase.
He was not scared to exaggerate and play with form, especially when it came to making a heavy material float effortlessly.
Spending time studying Scarpa’s work in Venice was priceless, and we took away three principles from our time there:
1 - Craftsmanship as a Design Language
- Precisely detailed concrete, brass, wood, glass, and stone connections
- Handcrafted elements that elevate construction into artistry
- Materials that retain their natural character rather than being disguised
2 - Dialogue Between Old and New
- Modern concrete beside ancient stone
- Steel inserted delicately into medieval walls
- New additions clearly distinguishable from the original building
3 - Choreographing Movement and Experience
- The pace at which visitors move
- Framed views
- Changes in light
- Moments of pause
- Encounters with water, landscape, and artworks
These are all things we now wanted to test in China.
Three concepts for the townhouse
Coming back from Venice, we started to model and test ideas. One thing we learnt from our first trip to China was: Do options this time! Always do options!
So we presented 3 key concepts for the new Nanjing Townhouse:
1 – A Library
2 – A Gallery
3 – A Sculpture (Evolved from Paris)
After presenting these ideas in our London studio, we headed out to Nanjing to measure the current built form of the townhouse shell, and to choose one of the concepts to work up and finalise for production this summer (2026).
Finally, we are delighted to present to you the final design as it stands now, we are in the process of getting the design costed so it is bound to change a bit, but if it looks anything like this then we will be over the moon.
We wanted to open up the 3 floors together as much as possible, with a triple height atrium space that curves open more and more as the floors go up, linking this atrium is a sculptural stair, inspired by our Paris project and a little bit of Carlo Scarpa from the recent trip to Venice.
The atrium space is a mix of all three earlier concept options: the timber feel of the library option, the curves of the gallery and the forms of the sculptural option.
The sculptural stair has a “Scarpa Step” exaggerated as the first step.
From the entrance level of the townhouse, one can see all the way up to roof level.
The design includes a double-height bookshelf and set-back atrium.
Jing Ling Villa — Downtown Nanjing
We have also just started working on a second project in Nanjing: a new apartment in one of our client’s highrise developments in Downtown Nanjing.
