The project is located in the Moshikou Historical and Cultural Reserve, Beijing. Moshikou was an important military and commercial stronghold of western Beijing in ancient times. Goods from the west were transported here by camel caravans. With the shift of the trading center, its former prosperity has faded; however, an intact spatial texture is well-preserved, forming a unique local neighborhood and perpetuating cultural memory.
The project consists of two separate courtyard units. Courtyard One contains a well-preserved traditional quadrangle courtyard layout, which features a concern for the relationship between humanity and nature. A variety of fruit trees grow in the yard, constituting a familiar lifestyle for local people. Under these trees, children play and frolic while collecting the fallen fruits as they ripen; and adults chat while enjoying the cool shade.
The fruit trees in the courtyard’s first progress are preserved. People will then continue to move around in their shade with new embedded functions, meeting, talking, tasting coffee, and enjoying small concerts; fruits will continue to fall in the courtyard as they ripen; and the memory of the past will also continue.
The layout of Courtyard Two is more compact: multiple households live on the narrow site, each occupying as much space as possible to form a high-density shanty town pattern.
Both courtyards have roof terraces, where one can overlook the Cuiwei Mountain and the Fahai Temple, enjoying a tranquil, natural scenery in such a high-density Beijing city.
The Moshikou Historical and Cultural Reserve not only continues its own spatial memory, but also the way of life of its own cultural community. The design strives to provide a space that can change with time and last with culture. It carries this cultural nostalgia and reconciles it with the contradictions of development, based on which creating possibility of more behaviors.