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The Ancestor House  

The Ancestor House

Zhejiang, China

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The Ancestor House

Zhejiang, China

STATUS
Built
YEAR
2019
SIZE
10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft
BUDGET
$500K - 1M
With the accelerated urbanization process all over China, the Chinese vernacular quadrangle house is now a diminishing typology especially in south China. Located in Changxing County Zhouwujie township, the dilapidated house Yushe Design was commissioned to restore was left almost nothing except the existing shell and the characteristic Hui-style horse-head walls. To preserve the memory of the whole family, the Ancestor House was designed to replicate the beauty of an original, 100-year-old construction, referring to the great orderliness and refinement of Chinese culture.


The original building was a traditional Southern Chinese Quadrangle (also Si’He’Yuan) layout with four internal courtyards surrounded by two buildings on four sides. Except for the characteristic Hui-style horse-head wall, most of the other original features — the loam walls, wooden roof trusses, timber beams and columns, grey tiles are severely damaged. Under such condition, the building might seem to be of little value to some villagers (usually they would demolish them and rebuild concrete houses), but for Zhou’s family, it is a century-old dream and memory. And for us, it was just like an uncut jade to be carved into great works.


We think the best solution to rural revitalization would never be building new houses over old ones, not to mention undisciplined occupation of land, though it proves much more difficult to find balance in preserving the memory and character of the past while adapting it to its modern use.


Half way through the planning process, the existing walls catastrophically collapsed in half one night during a typhoon, so we had to take special measures to protect the remaining ones. As a result, the original Hui-style horse-head wall was well preserved and other screen walls are reinforced by steel-concrete structure so as to eliminate air/wind leakage and potential structural risks.


The severely damaged through type timber frames were rebuilt according the original structure. Some undamaged beams and stone plinths under the wooden pillars were kept intact, the demolished ones such as grey tiles are recycled for pavements and decoration, echoing the history to the house and the local culture on the tectonic side as well as showing sustainable ecological construction philosophy.


Starting from the outer courtyard along the gate to the north, you can arrive at the first inner courtyard where the paths are paved with local black bricks and slab stones that make it convenient and safer to go out on rainy days. The living room acts as the communal space for the big family’s ceremony and reception of the honored guests. Wooden grills and local limestone floor emerged together to create a sense of warmth, naturalness. The new reflects the past without imitating it.


Affirming its traditional dimension, it also highlights contemporary building's qualities such as modern glass windows to bring sunlight and nature into the normally dimly lit old house. The transparence also enhanced the connectivity between the indoor spaces and the open courtyard.


The courtyards divide the spatial patters and create various circulation route, providing different walking experience as well as impressive views of nature change. Walking through the corridor forces one to introspect his/her own thoughts about the harmony among heaven, earth and mankind.


The courtyard-style pattern creates an open relation between each room and the garden. The back hall connects the two floors with an exquisite wooden stair and provides access and privacy for all rooms which share various landscape views.


Famous Chinese writer Lin Yutang, also best known is the West for his English writing once described his ideal home:“Garden within a house, house within a garden, courtyard among rooms, trees among courtyard, sky above trees, moon in sky”, reflecting the most distinctive feature of Chinese home design of all ages is the stone-paved courtyard, just similar in effect to a Spanish cloister, and symbolizing peace, quiet and repose. Courtyards are spiritual place for Chinese ancient literati, and still a longing place for nowadays people where they can be assured of being personally pampered in beautiful rural surroundings to get away from the hustle and bustle.


The interiors consist of two ideas, simplicity and space. We brought in few pieces of furniture with simple lines, good quality and extremely polished, which perfectly fuse different hues and texture.

From design to construction, the restoration of Ancestor House just went through a cycle of four seasons; from ruins to prosperity, the Zhou family’s dream of reviving the old house continued for a century. Rather than an architectural and interior design, it is a shaping of the humanistic pattern of “etiquette”, and a modern rebirth of Chinese residence. This project has also inspired some local villagers thinking of renovation of their own house. We believe, lots of characterful country house would follow.


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Project Location: Zhouwujie Village, Changxing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Floor Area:1202㎡
Architecture & Interiors & Landscape Design: Yushe Design
Principal Architect:Chen Xiao、Li Zhiqiang、Xu Yi、Gao Shantong
Architectural Design:Li Na、Pang Di、Liang Xiuzhu
Interior Design:Mao Lili、Chen Peng、Zhao Xikang
Landscape Design:Yu Haoyan、Chen Jingfeng、Ma Jiang
Timber Frame Design and Construction: JAZBUILD
Design Phase:2017.3-2018.7
Construction:2017.11-2019.11
Photography:Fancy Images

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