Lijiang Houyuan ～Sunlit Golden Mountain · Snow Mountain Panorama, a Super Beautiful Place

Houyuan is located in Yuhu Village, Lijiang, a village with a thousand years of history, carrying cultural heritage through its stone exterior walls and wooden frame roofs. The entire village grows naturally, with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain on one side and expansive farmland on the other. Houyuan’s site is deeply embedded within the village fabric, surrounded by traditional Naxi residences, naturally forming an "inward" spatial characteristic. The original site consisted of the owner’s old guesthouse, ancestral home, and street-facing commercial buildings. The design retains the street-facing buildings, demolishes some old structures, and reorganizes the space to better align with the village’s fabric and order. The architecture intervenes in a "needle-insertion" manner, growing within the village fabric and establishing a dialogue with the surrounding environment rather than existing in isolation. Houyuan is both inward and not inward; this "inwardness" is not closed off but an open form of restraint. The architecture abandons traditional facades, making it almost invisible within the village. However, once inside, the space unfolds layer by layer, with sightlines and circulation continuously expanding within the enclosed courtyards, guiding users into a richly layered and dynamic spatial experience. The design continues the spatial prototype of Yuhu Village courtyards, organizing the L-shaped site into nearly two courtyards overlapping one room, with a core public space set at the junction. On the north side is a water courtyard, connecting spaces through the flow of water, while the south side uses enclosed courtyards to strengthen courtyard order. The courtyard between the new building and the old house is preserved. Ultimately, three major courtyards enclose each other in layers, allowing the architecture to maintain its spatial logic while generating a rich place experience through dialogues at different levels. Houyuan’s concealment makes it almost invisible within the village. From the village’s main street, only a corner of the building can be glimpsed, with the complete facade seemingly disappearing into the traditional fabric. However, once inside, the spatial relationships immediately unfold.