IT’s House / 2BOOKS design
The project is a small apartment with an indoor area of merely 36.5 square meters with a high ceiling of 3.9 meters.
Articles by Xiaohang Hou
12 Chinese Home Remodeling Ideas: Solutions to Housing Problems
In 2014, a home reconstruction program called “Dream home” was launched in China, inviting architects and interior designers to redesign some old houses that have problems. Some of these homes are oddly shaped, some are tiny, and yet others have extremely inadequate lighting. The design concepts conveyed by the designers together in this program are respect for people, understanding human relationships, and the definition of home. These renovations or reconstructions are not just home updates for clients, but a reinterpretation of “home” that gives them a new life with dignity.
Doozy Access Art Gallery / FAR WORKSHOP
We were commissioned by Doozy Access gallery to reshape an industry warehouse located next to Longwu Road in Shanghai. At the same time artist group, Martin Goya Business was invited during the renovation to experimentally curate a first art show on the construction site. This is a warehouse renovation project with an area of 500 square meters. The existing warehouse used to be a glass production factory with two massive concrete beam rows sitting along with the building internally. Similar to most of the factories pursuing spatial efficiency and economy, the facade of the building reflects its internal rhythm by repeating window frames in each bay. In this project, however, we attempt to disturb such rhythm by weaving completely different spatial language into it and making the facade fragmentally, incompletely, and bizarrely. Three spatial objects are designed to insert into the existing facade. We deliberately make the language of these objects inconsistent but spatially connected in narrative with the internal stage (exhibition hall) and ‘black
Yangtze Opus Wuhan Art Museum / Waterfrom Design
Vertical Lifen. Affection in all directions by Simplicity and Zigzaging. Lifen in Wuhan resembles a lane in Beijing and it is the essential cultural symbol in the city. The journal depicts the common people’s lives, mixed culture in the settlement, as well as the rise and fall of the population in the places. It shows the mutual prosperity of building and life. At Wuhan beach with the combination of the present and the past and western and eastern culture, by modern language, Water from Design reconstructed Life. Through the horizontal extension of traditional compound houses and vertical characteristics of western buildings, it analyzed and reorganized vertical and horizontal dimensions and reconstructed the modern space in the lanes.
Small Bamboo Recess / Bansong Studio
Locating at Huan Garden of Zhong Shan, the project reaches the end of the road between the two forests, and there is a soil slope of over 1 meter high on the edge, with a concave groove at the place where the slope is formed. Looking along the forest path, your eyes are filled with tall bamboo, appearing more depth by the mottled bamboo shadow in the daytime.
Shenzhen SkyPark / Crossboundaries
Contextual consistency – on a Macro, Meso, Micro Level. The architects started with reviewing the overall urban context of the project (macro). Then, continued by gradually zooming in on the local circumstances of the site, examining the surrounding educational, commercial, and residential facilities in relation to potential accesses and connections in between the river and the bay area (meso). Finally, on the given design site, they also reassessed the existing building of the Metro terminal including its parking(micro). The first challenge is the 1,2 km long stretched building complex. With an overall height of about 15 m, a width of 70 m at the widest, and 50 m at the narrowest point, the original complex completely cut off nearby neighborhoods from accessing the bay, neither adding any aesthetic value nor serving a specific functional purpose.
Huaji Cultural Resort Intervention / SZ-ARCHITECTS
Site introduction
Xiaoxihu historic district, which connected Fuzi Miao(The Confusious Temple) and Laomendong (East Zhonghua Gate) is located at the central area of Nanjing old city. Its boundary is also set up by historical landmarks: South of Changle Road; north of Madao Street; west of Gutong Lane; and east of Inner Qinhuai River. Xiaoxihu historic district was listed as the historical preservation zone in Nanjing Municipal Preservation Planning. Majority of its traditional architectural layout remained intact. With its winding streets and alleys, its spatial pattern facilitates the improvised yet vibrant urban texture and ultimately created the intricate residential form with complex adjacencies.
The Chamber Church / RSAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang
The ChamberChurch aims to create a spatial container that both respects the past and looks towards the future. It shall provide a religious experience and secular touch. The lower part of the auditorium is divided into two parts: the semi-sunken space and the connected patio form a link to the surrounding landscape. It is embedded in the mountain and connected to the square. It is the hidden foundation on which the upper part of the auditorium can stand proud between the mountain and the water, reflecting the power of heaven and earth and spreading the gospel of creation. Looking backwards we find the archetypes of architectural associations in history. The design echoes the memories associated with them, but interprets them in a timeless modernity creating a sense of the future. The architecture integrates this duality in plan and section.
SPMA Store / Atelier TAO+C
On ground floor of a 1930’s old house in Shanghai, atelier tao+c transformed the former residential space into a boutique retail space for SPMA. It is a typical lane house, the structure is made of load bearing brick walls and wooden floor. The layout is restricted by existing walls, with the rooms arranged one after another and give a strong sense of depth. The architect left the existing wooden ceiling and old doors intact, and the brick walls were preserved with white limewash.
Fuyang · Yangbei Lake Wetland Ecological Hotel / Shulin Architectural Design
Since ancient times, Fuyang has been a treasured land sit by the Fuchun River. The restored Yangbei Lake Wetland is divided into a larger part and a smaller part in a long strip which two parts are connected by a wooden arch bridge and surrounded by a large area of water and vegetation, featuring a unique landscape and good privacy, which makes it great choice for scattered small guesthouses. The seven small houses, led by pebble plates, are distributed at appropriate intervals along the edge of the small island to be as close to the waterfront as possible, so that each has a spectacular view with appropriate distance. The island is connected by a bridge, but guests can also take boats for a different experience.