Old House New Life

The forward-thinking designer, whose works transcend traditional and conventional design frameworks, leveraged his expansive experience in the Greater China region and was inspired by the refreshing new take on vintage style at the Layering Courtyard Hotel in Beijing to redefine the relationship between the old and new, inside and outside, humanity and nature in the design. Through the concept of "contrast", such as juxtaposing the old and innovative, traditional and contemporary, man-made and natural, the humanistic stories of traditional houses are preserved and the spatial functions of modern hotels are introduced, while the element of "nature" is emphasized.



With the creation of spatial value as the main demand of the design, the designer broke with the traditional configuration of the main hall of a traditional Sanheyuan courtyard and designed the left wing facing the road as the check-in counter core. The original arcade aisle in the house is sealed off and replaced by "Cheng" (埕; courtyard) as the main spatial configuration without a walkway. In order to increase the floor space and eliminate the waste of the original walkway, a mezzanine space was created from the wooden trusses of the gabled roof to increase the floor space and enrich the function of the space. The original public movement flow of an arcade pavilion is thus transformed into a private balcony for the guest rooms. In order to meet the demand for accommodation, the guest rooms are reorganized to achieve privacy and the brick partition structure is used to enhance the sound insulation of the guest rooms and to strengthen the structural safety of the old wooden house. The restaurant space is made of steel and glass and the top floor offers a viewing platform with great visibility.



In order to preserve the appearance of the original building, the interior retains the use of the original wooden structure, using simple and refreshing Douglas fir wood to redesign the interior roof structure and the furniture is echoed by the same wood tone material, while PVC wood grain flooring with good moisture resistance are used for the floors.