Zai's Hutong Filter features a pixelated shingle wall overlooking a traditional courtyard
Hutong Filter is a studio added to a house in one of Beijing's traditional hutongs by architecture office Zai with pixel-style shingles and timber frames connecting to a communal courtyard.
Beijing studio Zai, founded in 2018 by Yihang Zhang, introduced additional functional spaces to a house found within a courtyard typical of the city's hutong neighbourhoods.
It is common for owners of this sort of property to erect basic brick extensions to increase their living space. This results in the courtyard being subdivided to form a network of narrow alleys.
With Hutong Filter, Zai aimed to avoid the sterile and insular feel of these ad-hoc additions by incorporating openings that retain views towards the courtyard.
"Hutong Filter seeks to find a balance between the need of the client to have privacy while not cutting off desired connection to the neighbours," said Zhang. The addition, which occupies a section of the courtyard in front of the house's long elevation, contains a freestanding studio and an enclosed private patio.
Rather than creating a blank and anonymous brick structure, the studio chose to use dark slate shingles to clad the elevation and roof of the studio space.
"The grey colour and rough texture of the shingles references the traditional grey bricks in the surrounding buildings, blending easily into its context while preserving a sense of individuality," Zhang added.
The regularly shaped shingles are treated as pixel-like component...
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