At the start of 2026, the demonstration zone of CMSK Azure Villa, with architectural design by GOA Group of Architects, was completed and officially opened to the public. Nestled beside the Shangtang River in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, the site features interwoven halls and corridors amid serene waters and verdant trees, unfolding as a fully realised classical garden. Rooted in the aesthetic spirit of the Song Dynasty and narrated around the ideal of reclusive living, the design unfolds a layered scroll of mountains and waters within the bustling city, imbuing CMSK’s Azure Series with a distinctive character.

Pan Yu, a hermit-scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote in Inscription on the Wall of My Dwelling: “My home rests by the canal; spring deepens in the quiet tower. Cool ripples carry swallows’ songs; sunlight filters through paulownia shade. Tea brewed to ease the weariness of scrolls read; incense lit to awaken the Dao heart. Floating clouds make wealth and rank light; the city itself becomes mountain woods.” Capturing the poetic essence of this verse and drawing upon scenes from Sixteen Views of Seclusion, painted by Chen Hongshou of the Ming Dynasty, the design leverages the site’s natural topographic undulations. Pavilions and terraces occupy higher ground while ponds are set within depressions, crafting the project’s conceptual framework of “Five Realms and Twelve Views of Azure Villa”. The experiential journey begins at City as Mountain Grove and concludes at Asking the Moon by the Canal. Interwoven scenes form a winding, circuitous sequence. As visitors wander onward, they gradually enter this profound realm of seclusion.

Architectural forms within the garden reinterpret Song construction principles. Through concise compositional relationships of points, lines and planes, paired with contemporary materials and construction techniques, the architecture attains a mellow, graceful presence. Lightweight overhanging metal roofs define the silhouette; facades extend horizontally through a refined assembly of obsidian glazed bricks, fibreglass mesh and slender metal supports. Natural stone is widely adopted for corridors, halls and paving, allowing built forms to emerge as a continuation of native rock formations. Walking through this setting, amid simulated mountains and stone outcrops, one may conjure echoes of Emperor Huizong’s Genyue Garden. Hand-finished materials enrich fine details, embodying the craftsman-philosopher ethos of the recluse.

The overall landscape is conceived as a reciprocal interplay of mountains and waters, where each conceals the other. The boundary between woodland and water meanders gently: water is tucked among rocks and groves, and beneath building plinths shaped like artificial hills, creating the impression of a living, flowing water system. In turn, the animated water brings vitality to the stone formations, fulfilling the poetic ideal voiced in the closing line of the poem: the city itself becomes mountain woods. It is a realm of profound depth, lingering in the mind long after the visit.