HUTONG METABOLISM 胡同新陈代谢
2016 / Beijing, China 中国北京
What could be the alternative for China’s historic preservation if not radical demolition or sentimental conservation? In this proposal, new concrete intervention serves as an outside-in system to generate new spatial atmosphere in the courtyard and to preserve the exiting building footprints. Concrete threshold spaces are built following the geometry of existing un-authorized additions, and serve as transitional spaces between interior and exterior.
New roofs are constructed with modern timber system, with potential to be replaced by new plug-in modules. The original buildings subsequently become a spatial infrastructure awaiting its own metabolism in the future.
The proposed program for the site is a community bathhouse - a vanishing local building typology. The goal is to establish a critical conservation strategy for Beijing hutong neighbourhood that allows itself to metabolize and regenerate.
Advised by Zhang Ke
