<p>Hangzhou’s West Lake district, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, has inspired poets and artists for more than a thousand years with its blend of picturesque islands, flowering trees, and temple architecture. Matthew Carlisle, whose London-based firm designed the show villas and communal areas of Phoenix House, used the historic setting as an inspiration. The pond garden, with its artful boulders, penjing trees, stone bridges and circular »moon gate,« is an homage to Hangzhou’s time-honored style of lakeside landscaping. The fundamental principle: to arrange disparate elements in perfect balance to create an idealized scene. It’s a formula which could serve equally well as the motto of the Phoenix complex itself.</p>