Integrated golf and residential community on Shanghai's Chongming Island.

Villas for a Second Home Market

As a refuge from increasingly crowded, expensive and polluted Shanghai, Chongming Island is viewed as a nearby, clean residential address with blue skies. Accessible to the city with a new bridge, Chongming Island has rapidly become an integral part of the city. The Sanctuary at .Dongtan was initiated as a joint venture between USA-based Behring Group and a State-owned company from Beijing.

Conceived as a 2000 mu second home community of villas around a golf course, the project's initial phase of 500 mu included three golf holes and three separate sales model villas as well as planning for subsequent residential products. Land acquisition and government approvals required a phased approach of separate increments which greatly compounded planning efforts.

The site plan of the sales area features a roadway alignment and landscape treatments to maximize the limited space, create privacy for villas and to maximize golf views. A future residential lot was designed as a temporary 'park area' overlooking the third of three golf holes constructed in this initial phase. A second 'future building lot' was intended to be a parking area for functions and sales promotional events.

The largest sales model villa - a two story palatial "Mansion-style" home, featured a large entertainment lawn, outdoor kitchen, entertainment pavilion overlooking a Koi Pond and a hidden grotto swimming pool.  Set in a prime position overlooking the golf course, this villa featured an outdoor kitchen on a belvedere terrace near a pond. Three mid-sized villas featured single-level living and a variety of outdoor amenities in more contemporary styles. Four smaller villa models were created, each with their own architectural character and each garden was customized according to the building's architectural style and/or style of interior decoration.