Designer Wu Bin‘s Anji Retreat

Distinctions

Discipline : Interior Design

Categories : Residential / Cottage & Country House / Retreat & Vacation Home : Grand Winner

In the silent rhythm of Anji's distant mountains, Wu Bin draws from China's reclusive literati tradition—where home is not ownership of nature, but belonging to it like a tree, rooted in earth and stretching toward the sky. Tucked within a valley, the small cabin steps back, yielding to mountain silence, wind's path, and light through trees—becoming part of the scenery. Through "formlessness" and "subtlety," the dwelling defers to the land, restoring space as a vessel for the spirit.

Egret limestone pavés interior in serene white; stratified stone walls suggest layered peaks, while tactile wood surfaces convey human warmth. A bluestone slab lies atop a wooden table, custom-lit to render a meal's warmth tangible. Hand-cut paper panels are meticulously layered on walls—a slow artisanal gesture echoing time. Two ancient pines rise in the courtyard, their branches floating like ink in morning mist, casting shadows between stone and frame as if stepping into an ink-wash painting. Two pools nestle here—one indoors, one open to the forest—where steam rises, distant peaks appear, and the body becomes, as Su Shi envisioned, "lighter than a cloud-borne phoenix."

What makes this project remarkable is its quiet synthesis: the "unfinished" as seasonal rhythm, "subtlety" as daily happiness. Pine breeze drifts through the study window; reading brings clarity as words sink between wind and inner voice. Here, excess is noise—only through retreat comes true presence. The mountain does not own nature, but belongs to it—holding the inhabitant in deep woods, alone, yet utterly held in return.

The project in images