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Charmaine Chan

Catering to the young is anything but child’s play these days, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.
Take Lezhi Camp, a 2,560 square metre playground in the hills of Kunming, Yunnan province, where visitors are encouraged to commune with nature both outdoors and in. At the heart of this ambitious educational and recreational facility is a siheyuan, or courtyard house, given a spirited 21st century twist by Joey Ho Tzung Hsien, of Pal Design Group.

Designed for little humans and grown-ups alike, Lezhi showcases many of the signature flourishes of the Taiwan-born, Hong Kong-based architectural and interior designer, whose distinctive children’s spaces can also be found in the SAR as well as farther afield. Think features that swoop joyfully, spark creativity and elevate the everyday.
Water plays a crucial role.
“In Kunming, water is quite precious, so children don’t have many opportunities to play with it,” says Ho. “That’s the simple reason I wanted to bring water inside and outside.”
The inland capital’s vulnerability to drought and water pollution seems worlds away from the lively reception area, activity space, tea room and cafe that make up much of the 860 square metre facility, a vital cultural component of the camp. Constructed originally in 2004 as a residential compound with buildings enclosing a garden, it housed restaurants before it was overhauled in late 2023, according to Ho.

To maintain some of its old-world charm, he preserved the stone roof tiles, timber columns and intricate window lattices. He even protected the randomly planted camphor and “fortune” (Malabar chestnut) trees in the courtyard. “My design revolves around them,” he says, pointing to a photo showing amoeba-shaped tables with cut-outs that allow the trees to thrive.
Not surprisingly, feng shui influenced Ho’s redesign. To enhance the entrance, he redefined the “shadow wall” – usually a visual barrier built parallel to the entrance for privacy – giving it a curved form with a round window at the centre. The design complements another wall with matching fenestration.

One wall opens onto a small pond, while the other reveals the reception area, where a bench encircles a giant art installation. Breaking the monotony of the facade allows glimpses of the courtyard, usually hidden from view. Plus, as Ho notes, circles encourage gathering.
This theme of connection continues in the tea room. To flood the once dreary interior with natural light, Ho removed a large section of the tiled roof and replaced it with glass, illuminating not only the space beneath but also the network of beams, rafters and purlins, key elements of traditional Chinese architecture.
“Once I treat the ceiling like this, the whole structure becomes the decoration and I don’t have to do too much,” he says. “I just wanted to connect the light, the water, the people.”

While adults in the tea room might enjoy gazing up, a shallow pond flowing round concrete islands of seating was designed for their charges to “chase little fishes”. Outside, a paddling pool surrounds a semicircular bench. In the courtyard, children are encouraged to don waterproof waders and play in the shallows. “The client thought I wanted to design a reflective pool outside,” Ho chuckles, referring to the tranquil waters typically found in parks and memorials. “I said, ‘No, you want to get the kids to play with water! Something so simple can be so joyful.’”
The subject of uplifting children leads to musings about how curves affect emotions. Ho says geometric arcs elicit positive responses because they feel more natural than straight lines. These arcs and other simple geometric forms are “highly beneficial”, he adds, because “they align with children’s grasp of basic geometry, which grants them unique perspectives on space”.
“When paired with their imagination, this understanding makes the world feel wonderfully different.”
And, as he points out, who can deny that curves resemble smiles?

This is evident in a 3.9-metre-diameter circular basin he designed in a corner of the siheyuan to encourage handwashing. Picture standing beneath a silver flying saucer hovering over its dock, and it’s clear why the sink might attract curious kids. To ensure they linger long enough to complete the ritual of wet, lather, scrub and rinse, he added an oculus overhead for wonderment. Not only does it look as though it might beam you up, but it also offers a big-sky view of the world.
“Simple things like washing hands can be so amazing, so fun,” Ho says, displaying a photo of a boy bending around a curved lip to reach a tap. “They like to wrap their body around things.”

Curves also feature prominently in the activities room for art and crafts. Minimally furnished, this space looks out into the courtyard, past a steel “bench” shaped like a sound wave of ceiling-height amplitude. Positioned beside panes of glass, the barrier is aesthetically striking and functional. But it can, and probably will, be used in other ways, too.
“What I’ve discovered is that if you give children something simple, they will come up with a thousand ways to use it,” says Ho. “So you don’t need to make anything too complex – there’s no point.”
He later adds: “What seems merely cute to us adults might, to them, be a gateway to infinite spatial imagination, where every curve and shape holds endless possibilities.”
Siheyuan at Lezhi Camp

A bird’s-eye view of the courtyard house shows the redesigned entrance in the bottom right corner. Angled off it are the tea room with glass roof and the reception. Diagonally opposite is the communal sink area, on either side of which are the activities room (on the right) and the only two-storey wing (on the left), accommodating a cafe below and private rooms above. Opposite this wing is a multifunction room
Pond
The wading pond in the courtyard of the siheyuan at Lezhi Camp, in Kunming, designed by Joey Ho of Pal Design Group (www.paldesign.cn)
Tea room
Colour perspex pendants catch the light flooding into the tea room through the new glass roof. Shallow ponds around seating were designed for the enjoyment of children. The wall installation was created by Hu Yue Hua
Activities room
Curves also abound in the activities room, which features a ceiling-height metal wave by the courtyard-facing glass windows. The opposite wall, with shelving, was designed with a rounded base, which affects climbability. The communal washbasin is visible through the internal window
Communal sink
Ho designed the basin to make handwashing less of a chore. The oculus and mirrors add to the sense of fun
Reception
A fabric installation, also by Hu Yue Hua, is ringed by a bench designed by Ho for visitors waiting in the reception area


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Lezhi Camp in Kunming. Photo: Chen Yanming

Tea room. Photo: Chen Yanming

Reception. Photo: Chen Yanming

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Activities room. Photo: Chen Yanming

Communal sink. Photo: Chen Yanming

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Siheyuan at Lezhi Camp. Photo: Chen Yanming

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PostMag

Design & Interiors

Children are at the centre of a redesigned courtyard house in Kunming, where cheerful circles and curves spark joy and curiosity


Children are at the centre of a redesigned courtyard house in Kunming, where cheerful circles and curves spark joy and curiosity.


A playful reimagining of a traditional Chinese siheyuan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Children are at the centre of a redesigned courtyard house in Kunming, where cheerful circles and curves spark joy and curiosity

Children are at the centre of a redesigned courtyard house in Kunming, where cheerful circles and curves spark joy and curiosity