The courtyard is located in the suburbs of Beijing, it is the home of architects. We hope that the renovation of the courtyard can have fragments of old times and meet the needs of modern life. It should still be a courtyard in the village, rather than a villa in the suburbs. It should be an ordinary Chinese rural style residence.
The roof of the old house is the most simple northern folk practice, from the beams to the purlins, from the rafters to the watchboards, they are selected logs that have been slightly trimmed, we hope to preserve and showcase this traditional construction. Since it is old house texture, we hope to recreate a warm northern kang here. Drinking tea, chatting, taking a nap, and even eating and drinking on the kang in daily life, it is a necessary living experience for rural residents in the north. On the wall next to the kang, we designed a photo wall that records the life time of a family over the past decade. It is also another manifestation of old times, condensing stories from the past.
The northern house of Xiaoyuan'er was built in the 1980s. Although the building is old, it is still in good condition due to being inhabited by people. We only removed the old and deformed doors, windows, and ceilings, exposing the original wooden columns and beams, while preserving and repairing the rest. We demolished the original color steel building, reconstruct it and redesign this space into a kitchen and storage room, connecting the two separate buildings with an entrance door bucket. We moved the original outdoor bathroom and kitchen functions into the interior, creating a complete and coherent space. In winter, there is no need to worry about going out to the bathroom and taking a shower. We designed the new section as a square building, contrasting it with the old house in appearance and it also connecting the past and present.
The appearance of the kitchen is in a square shape, which is significantly different from the old house. However, we still choose to use the wooden structure as the internal structure of the building's roof, aiming to form a continuous dialogue with the traditional wooden roof structure of the old house. There is also a soft transition in the comparison between old and new, not to create a contrast, but to present products from different eras side by side.
In the process of design and construction, in order to restore the traditional characteristics of the old house, we have made many detailed treatments. Many preserved structures are actually repaired during the construction process. Pure preservation is difficult to balance practicality, but we also need to maintain the appearance of the old house in order to create a sense of immersion in the spatial experience. For example, the texture of the earth wall. We cannot really use loess to plaster the walls, nor can we really use ramming techniques to re ram each wall, as it may require the entire house to be demolished and rebuilt. After repeated discussions and disputes, a series of process methods were gradually phased out. In the end, we decided to try specific proportion of color mixing cement mortar, after repeated proportioning experiments over and over again, the ideal effect has finally been achieved.