Zhan Yuan Courtyard House for Gazing
The project is located in a typical village (Hou Hei Long Miao) near Yanqing, Beijing, which is surrounded by a beautiful mountain (Hai Tuo Shan) from the north, and a pond (Guan Ting) from the south. The site is on the northern edge of the village, distanced from the mountain across farmlands.
In 2018, Wee Studio was invited here for a design collaboration with four other architects, to build a cluster of minsu ? a type of Chinese-style bed-and-breakfast ? consisting of five buildings. The five sites to be transformed were randomly matched with the architects, making for a fruitful project in which distinctive design methodologies are juxtaposed within a single complex. In addition to contributing to the artistic value of the project, its resulting spatial diversity also highly benefits the business end of the property. Due to an absence of physical and cultural values within the existing building ? a single-floor brick structure from the 80s ? we proposed to demolish it, allowing us to start over with a clean slate. Photography by © Yumeng Zhu
The proposal is developed from the behavior of ?looking.? The minsu is interpreted as a place where guests from urban areas can converse with the site. Visitors are meant to gaze upon Haituo Mountain from the roof terrace free of distractions ? therefore, the roof?s northern edge is curved up to obscure the presence of neighboring buildings, pulling the mountain visually closer to the viewe...