HOUSE OF MOUNTAIN BIRDS: To be free is to be high

The site of this project is located in the western mountainous area near Beijing city, occupying a low-lying site within a mountain village, roughly 100 square meters in size. The original spatial condition was crowded and chaotic, and although people lived within the wilderness of the mountains, they could hardly feel the beauty of their surroundings.

The client was once a guest at “House of Steps” (a previous project which we completed and published in 2020). During our first meeting, the client displayed a true love for the open views provided by “House of Steps”, and communicated that they wished to have a similar terrace at a high vantage point that would provide excellent views. I suppose it could be said that reaching high places is a kind of innate desire that exists deep within human beings, and one which architecture can please. Looking at the earliest imaginings of home, the roots of numerous theories, or the most widely circulated architectural legends, there is always a source that leads us to seek a higher plane, away from the chaos, threats, and anxieties that arise from being on the surface. If people need to be sheltered in exchange for obedience, living between streets, walls and roofs can mean living under multiple forms of discipline. Perhaps then reaching a high vantage point can mean a return to freedom.

Within this small, crowded site, our assignment was to build a vacation home that provided access to and experience of the mountains. This included three en-suite bedrooms, and a series of functional public spaces with fine scale. Placing a 165 square meter building onto a site of just 100 square meters, the question of how to deal with the conflict between large volume and small site is the premise of our experiment in “coherence”.

A small courtyard with an area of roughly 4 meters by 5 meters was retained as before. In reference to the sloping roof as is the existing building form in the area, the towering volume on the west side is tilted back, thus preventing people from feeling uncomfortable with the large volumes existing on such a small site. The grand slope is then merged with a slope on the opposite side. When looking toward the northern façade, a triangle appears on top of the original volume. Simultaneously, the sloped roof of the northern building extends toward the west and enters the interior. Under the slope, various public areas with multiple heights are combined together to form one cohesive space. On the slope, the space is occupied by a series of terraces, which function as beds at differing elevations. Essentially, the slope becomes the boundary between public and private. Compared to a stable horizontal surface, a slope conveys dynamism and movement. Within this process, the body, action, light, and the flow of wind are all also shaped.

This dynamic form is in keeping with the inherent requirements of the public spaces, in particular given the extremely small size required for this project. The walls between the various areas of the kitchen, dining, and living rooms and theater are eliminated and the boundaries are completely blurred. The difference in height within the original site is broken up into stages comprising of three steps in the theater. Instead of walls, the height difference becomes a hidden boundary between areas. On the boundary between the compact interior and narrow courtyard, as much glass as possible was used to separate the two so as to allow the morning light to pour through, blurring the distinction between inside and out. Windows take the place of gaps between different materials and components, for example, between the upper part of the hill wall and the sloping roof, allowing visitors to see the mountains through a triangular window.

Though the horizontal space is limited, the vertical space above and below the slope is rich and diverse. Two steep staircases link the space at differing heights. One for public, and one for private. Within the public space, we cut a hole at the highest point of the first floor ceiling, placing a spiral staircase which passes through to link the first floor with the roof terrace, while the bedrooms on the first floor and second floor are linked together by another staircase within the private area. The dynamic of going up and down in different areas and at various heights can be metaphorically described as birds living in the woods. This is also the origin of the name of this project, “House of Mountain Birds”.

Aside from the slopes and staggered floor between the roof terrace and yard, another characteristic of the project is the sense of scale that pushes limits. The most typical space are the bedrooms on the second floor. Space was too limited to place the sink in the bathroom, so we instead installed a countertop between the bedroom and staircase, blurring the boundaries between the two. The width of the sliding door becomes unequal at the top and bottom, and when the door is closed, the unevenly shaped door bites into the countertop, separating inside and outside.

On one hand, the spatial strategy is an answer to the requirements of the site, and on another, the material and detail strategy also provide answers to the limited budget. Corrugated metal panels, pine plywood, latex paint, and polished concrete floors, all are inexpensive materials. Roof and ceiling, metal and wood, the difference between warm and cold colors combined with the sloping form, the building naturally brings forth a certain sense of shelter. The steel pillar and beams beneath the slope are exposed in the public space, and they become part of the feeling it provides. The polished concrete floor is free of joints, which also makes the public space feel more integrated and coherent. The courtyard wall retains the same stone masonry as was in place before the renovation, in order to echo the context of the surrounding village.