The building was once a siheyuan (a traditional an attractive residential typology with buildings arranged around a central courtyard), now has been remodeleted by Beijing practice Arch Studio to transform into a new house with the necessary infrastructure for a contemporary lifestyle, situated in Paizihutong's Dashilanr district, south of Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
Many of these old buildings in Beijing have been demolished to make way for more contemporary blocks. Archstudio is not the first time works with this kind of project, and its design aims at getting rid of the solemn and stereotyped impression given by the Siheyuans, adding a grey-brick paving floor-layer, that cross the courtyard and flows from outside to inside, forming internal walls that helping to create an open and active atmosphere. What hides within the curved wall are necessary auxiliary spaces such as kitchen, toilet and warehouse, while reception and dinning areas are shown outside the curved facade and in relation to the courtyard.

Intended primarily for use as a residence or hostel, playing with the idea of private space and public space, the various spaces surrounding the courtyard can also be rented for public events, meetings or parties. Various private and public rooms are arranged around the courtyard, which extends into the building at either end to form the internal floors of a dining space and reception area.
 
 
 
 
 

Descripción del proyecto por Arch Studio

Twisting courtyard is located in Paizihutong, Dashilar Area, Beijing. It used to be a Siheyuan with one single entry. The purpose of the improvement is to upgrade the necessary infrastructure needed for modern life, thus turning this traditional courtyard, which mainly serve as a residence, into an attractive public space of Beijing Inner City.

Twist within regular layout.
The design aims at getting rid of the solemn and stereotyped impression given by Siheyuan, and creating an open and active living atmosphere. Based on the existing layout of the courtyard, the undulated floor is used to connect indoor and outdoor spaces of different height. And it is extended to the inside of the house, twisting into walls and roof, thus creating dynamic connection between inside and outside space. What’s hidden within the curved wall is necessary auxiliary spaces such as kitchen, toilet and warehouse; while reception and dinning spaces are shown outside the curved wall and connect to the courtyard as a whole. Both indoor and outdoor floors are paved with gray brick. A hawthorn tree in the courtyard is kept and being part of the twisting landscape.

Twist between patterns of utilization
The small yard is mainly used as urban public space while maintaining the possibility of using as a residence. The four houses can be rented for public events for purposes such as recreation, meeting and gathering. Meanwhile, they could be served as a family hostel with three bedrooms. Integrated furniture is used to enable the flexible switch of space scenes. Furniture boxes are inserted into the existing wood frames of east and west wings. Wood platform with lifting table hidden inside could be used as tearoom or bedroom. Bed wall and partitive soft curtain are also used in the main room on the north to meet multiple use requirements.

For building type “Siheyuan”, the courtyard is the core of living fun. “Twisting courtyard” makes micro-adjustment to relations between the parts to change the temperament of the courtyard space and to meet requirements of multiple use without changing the existing housing structure, making the traditional courtyard up-to-date and being integrated into modern urban life.

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Architects
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Design Team
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Han Wenqiang, Huang Tao
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Collaborators
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Furniture Accessories.- Song Guochao. Text.- Han Wenqiang


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Area
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Plot area.- 225.4m². Gross area.- 161.5m²
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Timeline
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Design.- 06. 2016 > 09. 2016. Construction.- 10. 2016 > 05. 2017
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Main material
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Gray brick, Oak panels
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Photography
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Han Wenqiang, was born in Dalian, Liaoning, China. He graduated from the Architecture School of Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2005, and since then he has been teaching there. Combing his teaching, he founded 2010 his office in Beijing ARCHSTUDIO.

He mainly researches contemporary architectural and interior environments based on traditional cultural backgrounds. He advocates carefully reading the particular requirements and constraints of every specific project during the design practice, constantly breakthrough and challenging limitations, and continuously deepening the whole process from concept to construction details as well as transforming the relationship between the inside and the outside, the old and the new, the artificial and the natural. He devotes to making the space to be the communication medium between people and people, people and environment, so as to create a livable life.

His major projects include Tea House in Hutong, Waterside Buddist Shrine, Organic Farm, etc. His works have won Building of The Year by Archdaily, LEAF Awards, Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards, Taiwan Interior Design Gold Award, etc. His works have been invited to participate in different exhibitions, such as Contemporary Architecture in China, Harvard, The Gwangju Design Biennale in South Korea,  10x100 - An Exhibition of 100 Architects for the 10th Anniversary of UED, etc.

Awards.-

2019 Architizer A+Awards—Jury
2018 FA Emerging Architect Award—Winner
2018, 2017 Building of the Year by Archdaily;
2017 Wood Design & Building Awards;
2017 The 8th IIDA Global Excellence Awards;
2017, 2015 Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards;
2016 LEAF Awards;
2016 A+ Awards by Architizer;
2016 The 12th Annual Hospitality Design Awards;
2016 American Architecture Prize - Architecture Renovation Silver Award;
2015 Taiwan Interior Design Award - Commercial Space Gold Award, The TID Award of Residential Space, The TID Award of Public Space;
2015 Contract magazine The 37th Annual Interior Awards - Restaurant Category and Exhibition Category;
2015 Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards - Leisure & Entertainment Space Gold Award, Food Space Gold Award and Living Space Silver Award;
2015 CIDA China Interior Design Award - Residential Award.

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