Adjustable grating. Image © Bohong Zhai
- Architects: Jin Lei
- Location: Huailai, China
- Other Participants : Shijun Jin, Zhicai Yang, Zhenjun Zhu, Kailu Li
- Area: 229.0 m2
- Project Year: 2018
- Photographs: Bohong Zhai, Lei Jin
New building overlooking the village. Image © Lei Jin
Text description provided by the architects. The building is located in the small mountain village in northern China, The village used to be a military town in Ming and Qing dynasty, a part of Great Wall is also in these village. Our site is at the foot of the Great Wall, at the top of the village.
elevation of new building. Image © Lei Jin
Section
new and old face to face. Image © Lei Jin
The old house was built in 1980s, Which we decided to keep, The old house in the middle of the site, only a few meters from the Great Wall, and 10 meters from the south side. This brings difficult for the modification.
house close to the Great Wall. Image © Lei Jin
It’s hard to put a new house and a new yard in 10 meters, if we can do that, we also lost landscape advantages from the high ground. So we decided to design a side – leaking yard to solve the problem.
Corner of the building. Image © Lei Jin
Plan
living room. Image © Lei Jin
The old house has been broken, need to repair, We repair it in a traditional way, only to change a little bit of detail. The space between the old house and the Great Wall is used as a toilet, which has a glass roof.’
The high window. Image © Lei Jin
We build a new house within 10 meters of the south side of the old house. Between the old house and the new house, a new courtyard has emerged. This courtyard opens in the special place, which we call it a “open pavilion”, it has the best view overlooking the village.
courtyard view. Image © Lei Jin
The elevation of the new house is covered by grille, this adjustable grille system also provide a transition zone between traditional villages and new house.
the courtyard link to the village. Image © Lei Jin