Coming Home

In our everyday life, we are often trapped in our own feelings, cognitions, thoughts, and rarely feel at ease.
Many of us are floating in the society like boats in an infinite ocean, drifting with the waves, unable to control ourselves or the external situation.
This project is about coming home, a sense of belonging, not being the captive of the external environment, but finding the internal anchor, returning to the self.



The project is a journey, both a physical one and a mental one,
The shelter is the physical space and the personal skin,
Home is a place between reality and dream.
A man shed his skin and return to an animal, resting in his cave.
A bird wakes up and knows her own song.
I hope this will be a place where one could rest her wings and find her song before returning into the world again.

Critique on Status Quo

The living environment is a reflection of our mental reality, the standardization of housing units and everyday objects in turn institutionalise our mind.




Education system: Are we nurturing individual minds or moulding professionals on assembly line?





Family system: When has the ideal family image became nuclear families of average 2.4 kids?



Care system: Is the system actually caring for the vulnerable or subjectifying them?




Our competitive, service-oriented societies are taking a toll on the late-modern individual. Rather than improving life, multitasking, "user-friendly" technology, and the culture of convenience are producing disorders that range from depression to attention deficit disorder to borderline personality disorder. Byung-Chul Han interprets the spreading malaise as an inability to manage negative experiences in an age characterized by excessive positivity and the universal availability of people and goods. Stress and exhaustion are not just personal experiences, but social and historical phenomena as well. Denouncing a world in which every against-the-grain response can lead to further disempowerment, he draws on literature, philosophy, and the social and natural sciences to explore the stakes of sacrificing intermittent intellectual reflection for constant neural connection.




Nature Flows

An apple seed grows up to become an apple tree, a pear seed grows up to become a pear tree. They do not try to force themselves to become something they are not meant to be.

But humans do.

We genetically modified different crops to suit our taste buds, and hybrid different breeds to produce that perfect “pink lady apple”.

And it is not just the plants.

The gentrified cities, shopping malls, chain McDonald’s, and Starbucks... together they form a web of illusions, secluded in “perfect little controlled environments”, humans think we are gods.

We are the Truman in a Truman show that we have constructed for ourselves.

As we grew exponentially in technological advancement, we have lost our human instincts, intuition, empathy, and spiritual connection with each other.

Wu Wei “无为” is a state of mind that is well known in the Eastern Daoism philosophy. When translated directly, it means “not-doing”, “non-action”, or “in-action”.

It does not mean literally doing nothing and letting life pass away, but the art of not-forcing, respecting the natural growth of things itself.

After a seed is planted, it needs time to absorb the nutrients from the earth, water, light, and work together with millions of micro-organisms; and with time, it will slowly sprout, grow, and bloom. Even if it does not bloom, it is nature’s way, the seed will contribute to the ecosystem on a bigger scale, and foster the growth of other organisms, blooming in a way that is hidden from the human eye.

Do Nothing, Achieve Everything.



The Magic circle is a journey of coming home, to re-discover what has always been there but overlooked

The site is located at the tip of Hartland Peninsula, North West of Devon.

The physical project serves as the grounding root, resting at the mainland Hartland Peninsula,
with a desire of extending towards Lundy Island as a spiritual anchor.




Marked on the map in red dotted lines, the site is well-known for its South West coastal walk path that has a reputation as the Walker’s Paradise.




The walk path is surrounded by lush nature



endless idyllic turnings



Moments where nature merges together with built artefacts



breathtaking ocean views



Naturally formed stones



And tectonic plates




The project is a journey of experiences, consisting of a spiral earthwork, with a sculpture, tea platform, sauna, and egg-like space for contemplation, and a dwelling weaving together, completing a holistic experience, and now I will go into detail about each of them, inviting you with me into the journey together.


From bird’s eye view, the earthwork is a magic circle that reflects the cosmos


The sculptural piece marks the entry point of the magic circle


it is formed by simply stacking locally sourced stones, symbolize a sense of balance





Taking steps further and entering into the magic circle


first ascending upwards into infinity, then slowly descending downwards into a spiral, where the horizon between earth and sky keeps shifting.

The experience is sensual, timeless, and moist. You can smell the scent of the earth, the plant, and the fishiness from the ocean breeze. The skin can sense the drop of temperature, the feet can feel the texture of the ground, each step is softer and quieter.



By the end of the magic circle, you reach the the egg,



A pink circular space that feels like the mother’s womb. Where time seems to pause, you can stay here and do nothing, contemplate, or just watch the clouds pass by in the water’s reflection.


there is nothing in between the men, sky, earth, and water.


there is nothing in between the men, sky, earth, and water.


It is made of mud and could only be heated up with the most fundamental method of burning a fire

It takes six hours to heat up the sauna, the preparation itself is a ceremony, you have to learn to slow down and respect the natural passing of time, to appreciate delayed gratification.


The tea platform sits on North West side of the magic circle, and faces towards the Lundy Island.


The tea culture symbolises oneness, it is a space where people put down cultural or belief differences, and come together for the simple enjoyment of tea and the company of one another.


It is a simple carving of the locally sourced stone, landing on the ground like a plate.


The dwelling sits on South West side of the magic circle, here you can see the south-facing elevation, from a distant the dwelling almost seems like a sea creature slowly drifting on the landscape.


This is the ground floor plan of the dwelling, it is a hybrid of organic and orthogonal expressions, reflecting the multiple facades of the post-modern individual


And now I invite you to go into the dwelling with me, from the outside, the entrance is covered in local white render, hiding under the roof and curving inwards, it is shy yet inviting, an opening provide the chance for one to observe the visitor from the inside.


As soon as you enter through the door, the experience is instantly changed. You arrive in a soft organic space covered with warm earthly finish, with the skylight light litting up the space from above, leading you forward it seems like there is always something to be revealed by the next turning.


After the first curved turning of the corridor, you open the door on the left side, and enter into the internal courtyard, it has only openings upwards, with no horizontal eye contact from the outside world, a tree sits in the middle and extends beyond the roof, naturally directing the gaze upwards, rain and wind flows into the courtyard seamlessly, you are safe, and you can rest your body here, and soften your mind, you are inside yet outside simultaneously.


Keep waking left and you reach the music room, it has wooden finishing, and is shaped in an oval dome geometry to enhance the acoustic, play your favourite tune here on the piano, and completely submerge into the realm of sound.


Exiting from the courtyard and back to the corridor, you enter the bathroom door, The Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser once said that “The bathroom is the last sanctuary for modern man, this is a place where men is completely alone with himself.” The bathroom is a deep cylinder covered in olive green tiles, when taking a bath, the steam and light reflect and refract on the surface, giving the experience of almost being at the bottom of a deep well.


Next to the bathroom is the earthy toned staircase that leads upwards


You arrive to the first floor, and find two bedrooms that has completely different moods, one is covered in yellow carpet finish, while the other one in blue,


The furry texture wraps the sleepers in idyllic cocoon.
The roof has two openings facing east, allow the first ray of sun shines on the eyelid and wake you up gently, you can then walk out to the balcony and have the quite morning all to yourself looking towards the landscape or magic circle.


Returning to the ground floor and continue down the corridor, the view is suddenly expanded and opened outwards, the space shift from organic to orthogonal shape, the living room and kitchen has high ceiling, revolving glass partitions, bringing the inhabitants back from their contemplating dream, to socialise with each other, and coming back to the landscape, to the outside world.


This is the north elevation of the the dwelling, the expression of the house is almost completely different from the south, like the many facades we wear in the society, reflecting the nature of duality.


This is the section of the dwelling, to you a more holistic understanding of the internal spaces.


And this is the horizontal section of the dwelling