Chinese architect and Zaha Hadid protégé celebrates the beauty of nature in his urban designs

How does your design for Gardenhouse, in Los Angeles, fit within the Shanshui City philosophy? “It is quite different from my other architecture projects. The building is on Wilshire Boulevard, which is a large street, and it’s close to some big towers.

“I had a strong image in my head that a house in Beverly Hills is supposed to look like a small building on a beautiful green hill – but that was not our site. So I was thinking, ‘Maybe I can bring this character into our project.’ We created half landscape, half building. In the centre of the courtyard we created some natural elements that feel very spiritual – we have a waterfall from the second level down to the ground.”

Did Beijing’s hutong courtyard houses have any influence on the design? “Courtyards interest me a lot, especially in Beverly Hills, where you mostly have individual houses. I was trying to think about community and, of course, greenery.

“My understanding about the Chinese courtyard is, first, it’s about family – you have different generations living in different buildings and they share the courtyard. One famous Beijing writer says the beauty of this kind of architecture is what happens in its emptiness, when you have trees and flowers and birds and people come out of their house.