Gold Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2026
Villa 49 Residential House
by Kris Lin
- A' Design Award 2026 Gold Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Kris Lin International Design
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 44,126
- Verification code 803388E8EC · Verify this award
About Villa 49 Residential House
Villa 49 is a renovation project that redefines residential living through the integration of water, light and landscape, transforming an ageing structure into a continuous system connecting architecture, interior and environment. A transparent pool introduces daylight into interior spaces while organising daily life around it. Through spatial continuity and material consistency, the project enhances functionality, improves living quality and strengthens the relationship between home and nature.
Kris Lin's Villa 49 Residential House represents a distinguished achievement within contemporary residential architecture, demonstrating sophisticated command of volumetric composition, material articulation, and the poetic integration of built form with landscape. The design engages meaningfully with modernist traditions while advancing a distinctly personal architectural language characterized by the dynamic stacking and cantilevering of rectangular masses that create visual tension and spatial complexity. The technical merit of the work reveals itself through numerous accomplished passages: the seamless transitions between interior and exterior facilitated by expansive glazing systems, the precise calibration of material tones creating rhythmic horizontal banding across the facade, and the thoughtful integration of linear lighting elements that transform the residence into an inhabited sculpture during evening hours. The chromatic sophistication emerges from the deliberate contrast between warm amber interior luminosity and the cool atmospheric envelope of twilight, creating a compelling visual dialogue that speaks to themes of shelter, warmth, and domestic sanctuary. The covered outdoor dining pavilion demonstrates particular compositional intelligence, functioning simultaneously as spatial connector, threshold mediator, and framing device that draws the eye toward illuminated interior volumes beyond. The inclusion of the swimming pool and sculptural loungers suggests engagement with notions of leisure, contemplation, and the cultivation of refined living environments that honor both human comfort and aesthetic aspiration. This work invites consideration of how contemporary residential architecture might balance the competing demands of transparency and privacy, monumentality and intimacy, geometric rigor and organic responsiveness to site and context. The viewer is encouraged to contemplate how the evening illumination reveals the inhabited quality of architectural space as fundamentally theatrical, transforming dwelling into luminous spectacle against the deepening sky.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Villa 49 is a detached villa with three above ground floors and one basement, 1000 sqm with a 300 sqm garden. The design focuses on nature integration family interaction and social living through a pool centred spatial strategy. The original building had an ageing facade moisture damaged interiors and a poorly lit basement. A riverfront setting with surrounding woodland provides strong natural context and landscape value.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Key spatial technologies include a 6 metre seamless glass facade in the living room and a 28 metre continuous panoramic glazing system for the bedrooms, maximising daylight and views. Illuminated natural stone is applied across key spaces including living dining cinema and master suite. The dining table features a custom luminous jade surface, alongside a fully natural marble illuminated wardrobe system.
- Tags
- Vliia , Private House , Architecture,Technology-based Housing
- Production Technology
- The project integrates architecture, interior and landscape through spatial reorganisation and light introduction.
A 12 metre transparent acrylic pool is positioned as a central element. Constructed with 120 mm thick panels, it ensures structural performance and high transparency. Integrated systems include water filtration, an air source heat pump maintaining stable temperature, and a motorised cover for safety and energy efficiency.
Natural light refracts through water, bringing daylight into deeper interior areas and forming a key visual focus. - Design Challenge
- The main challenge was improving real living conditions rather than formal expression. This included introducing daylight into a dark basement improving water safety and usability supporting natural family interaction and integrating technology without visual complexity. The project balances structure materials systems and spatial openness to create a long term living environment connected to nature.
- Project Duration
- The project was designed and completed in Shanghai, China, from January 2025 to December 2025.
- Operation Flow
- The residence is organised around a pool centred layout. Living and dining areas connect to the pool through fully openable glazing, forming a continuous indoor outdoor experience. Visual connections are maintained across floors, allowing natural interaction and supervision. Children move freely between pool and garden while adults remain connected from indoors. A fully integrated smart system enables simple one touch control of spatial and environmental elements.
- Research
- The project explores how daylight landscape integration and material continuity influence residential experience. Large scale glazing and open corner conditions create visual continuity with the environment. Natural light becomes the primary spatial focus, while reflections from water and landscape generate dynamic variation. A unified material system reduces fragmentation and strengthens spatial coherence.
- Inspiration
- Concept Embracing Nature Intelligent Living The design reconnects people with nature through water as a spatial medium. Instead of conventional zoning, it is organised around water light air and daily life, linking spaces and enabling year round living. An integrated smart system allows responsive control of windows shading and curtains, operating quietly in the background to enhance safety efficiency and comfort.
- Image Credits
- Kris Lin Internaitonal Design
- Patents
- Kris Lin Internaitonal Design