In the morning, we arranged to meet up with the BLA designer at the Clubhouse for a project review over coffee and tea. The meeting went well, but ran long and we stayed to have our standard lunch.
On our walk back to the office, we went and toured Villa 15, which is actually a penthouse apartment that is being redesigned for the Chairman and his family. The penthouse occupies the top two floors of the apartment building and stands at the center of one of his developments in the city. The current design is quite formal, with polished marble floors, painted murals, crystal chandeliers, dark wood, crown molding, ornate wainscoting,etc. The apartment has 5 bedrooms, 7 full baths, 3 half baths, 2 offices, a family room, a game room, a formal dining room , a formal living room, an eat-in kitchen, a screening room and an indoor pool with views of the city and a wrap-around outdoor deck. Not to shabby!
On our walk-through, I was struck by the formality and opulence; I sensed a strong desire for an aristocratic setting (it reminded me of the formal homes and estates I visited in England). I was also struck by some glaring design/construction mistakes that I would never allow on my watch (perhaps this is why we were called out here to help with the Jin Hai Lake Development)!!
The rest of the day was spent in the office and Robbin and I had dinner at Face restaurant and enjoyed some Indian food (not my favorite, but it was OK).
-hlj
I am in awe of that house!