This is Yunhe Terrace in Lishui, Zhejiang. It’s called “the most beautiful terrace of China”
Our house is at the top of Yunhe Terrace
1030 meters above sea level
After rains, vapor and mist come up from the mountains and form a sea of clouds
2 years ago
I rented a land here with a lease of 20 years
I wanted to build a home here for my mother
And the spare rooms could also be used to receive guests
My name is Tian Jinghai
There’s field, scenery and cloud sea in my name
So I feel quite connected to here
In 2002, I went to study in Germany
In a master program of Architecture Design
In order to raise the tuition
My mother sold our family house in hometown village
In 2016, I took my mother on a trip to Yunhe Terrace
The air was fresh and water were sweet
Her long-term stomach problem was relieved during the trip
Which is one of the reasons of my decision to run a guesthouse here
My mother likes simple and clean design
So the whole building was painted mainly black, white and grey
We also inherited the traditional structure of local rural buildings
And built two houses with exactly the same layout on the slope top
They are connected by a glass space which functions as the hall
Passing through the garden behind the house, you enter the glass space
Walk down the big steps
First you come into our public space on the 1st floor
Dining room at one side
And lounge with sofas at the other side
I imported “Balsa wood” from America. It’s the lightest wood in the world
I hung them on the ceiling
Like a paddy field up in the sky
My mother likes playing ping-pong
So I custom-made a wooden ping-pong table for her
In the public space on the 1st floor
There are 13 guest rooms
In the 2 houses
All the windows in each guest room face towards terrace
When you lay in bed in the morning
You can see mist rising from the fields
Gather into clouds
And slowly drift towards the room
You feel you’re surrounded by a magnificent sea of clouds
I also built an attic under the gable roof
This is my mother’s favorite room
The triangular window is like a viewfinder
Which frames in the cloud sea and terraces
I used local wood on the patio
And put the bathtub there too
If you bath on the patio when it rains
It feels like you’re bathing in nature
I designed a woodcraft studio
In the high-ceilinged space under the entrance platform
Children love playing wooden toys with my mother there
She’s a Kong Ming lock master
Many guests can’t put the lock together after they take it apart
And ask my mother to teach them
The viewing platform in front of the house is the nearest place to the valley
I often sit there with my mother too
In the morning or evening
Drink tea and chat
I feel satisfied that I can build such a beautiful house for my mother to live in
In her remaining years