
Baitasi Remade-
Reinventing Beijing Courtyards
Site B4
Black Mass
A humble building yet with distinct identity.
From the exterior, it is a heavy mass.
From the aerial perspective, a set of undulating roofs. It flows and floats. Expressive yet in a restraint way.
Inside, a cluster of detached rooms, individually enclosed and placed to resemble a quadrangle setting.
It is a project about connection & interaction.
Internal courtyard, internal gardens, internal paths, internal views.
The voids link spaces upward and crosswise.
When meandering in the house,
Outside in, inside out, within a walled premise.
Between the walls are pockets of green. Green is the window to the outside. An insert, a filter, a buffer. It quietly separates and connects at the same time.
Materials are chosen in the light of leaving traces of time.
Marks on the charred wood; marks on the blackened steel. When they age, they age beautifully.
By then, the building blends in with the rich surrounding courtyard houses fabric in the utmost effortless way.
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Location: Beijing, China
Client: International Design Competition- Baitasi 2016
Design Year: 2016
Status: Competition
Programme: Residential & Office
PLY Team: Raymond Chan, Wallace Lai, Marco Tse, Alex Yu
Image Credits: PLY Union Ltd.