The Rustic House

Shanghai, China

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The Rustic House

Shanghai, China

Firm

Atelier Habitant

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2024

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$10K - 50K

The Rustic House, Shanghai / Atelier Habitant
A natural residence in megalopolis

"Cicadas stops chirping and the breeze halts. Without hesitation i scatter lime green elm leaf strings in my arms, jump off the branches to the dry hard dirt and rush towards the road through the dragonflies and slug caterpillars. Glossy green paddy field outspread as far as boundless sky dotted with silhouettes of working farmers and the straight standing zelkova sways right in front of the house. The moment i step into the shade of the metasequoias, the soil has been moist and soft. Running through Jujube trees and the vegetable garden, jumping over stone slabs and high-span threshold, closing the squeaky and rough wooden door panels and dropping the latch with all strength, I nearly feel the raging wind and rain roaring to the back before they are prevented outside. I can finally wipe my muddy bare feet and clean my arms with green tree bark. Faint light and dust drop off from the high and small slanted skylight and the smell of damp earth fills the air. We wait for the rain to stop, yet calculating days left for the open-air movie when the whole village assemble."

It was an ordinary summer afternoon in the countryside in central Jiangsu Province in 1990. The image of wilderness, farming and inhabiting of the early agriculture era has been unconsciously but firmly embedded deep in the memory. In the rapid process of incremental urbanization, although we admire facility improvement, material advancement, efficient communication and rapid emerging of city spectacles, the pastoral poetry, natural and balanced, profound and concise, creative and adaptable, exciting and encouraging, has vanished. Its connotation’s value to a sustainable human environment is ignored, underestimated, misled or constrained. Various aesthetics and methodology that are pretentious, excessive, redundant, one-sided, and rigid have been emerging in turn under the guise of stimulation and surprise, concealing the true purpose. As a result, tremendous number of places were compelled into "plastic roses" which are homogeneous, incompatible, and extremely short-lived. Circumstances change as time goes by. The thirty years’ urban development has finally entered a transformation stage of structural adjustment, stock renewal and rural revitalization in parallel. The "Rustic House" honors the romance and positive characteristics of agricultural life, and experiments to remove the cumbersomeness and re-integrate natural and humanistic genes into the technical framework of contemporary urban life.

The original house is a typical multi-storey townhouse around 2000, with a 100㎡ ground floor and a 30㎡ front courtyard. By comprehensive application of methods such as adjusting the indoor / outdoor proportion, establishing transition zones, uneven floors, light / dark adjustment, gradient scale, and spatial adaptability design, the typical scenarios of this residence are completely changed.

The wild field
The renovation firstly removes the threshold between the original parlor and the front courtyard. It sets up platforms and steps on both sides of the window of the original bedroom facing the courtyard with a new canopy covered. The courtyard and the two parts were integrated into a 80 ㎡ outdoor domain that allows free movement and does not require excessive care. We call it “the wild field”. The indoor and outdoor acreage has been switched in this way. The fully open glass doors and windows will only be closed under extreme weather conditions such as thunderstorm rain. In daily use, the field is full of plants, sunlight, wind and various insects besides a pair of chairs, a movable platform bed and a carpet. The natural evolution bestows it rustic, vivid and eternal feature. The vast emptiness inspires series of activities such as carpentry, furniture painting, photographing, long table picnics, yoga fitness, enjoying the rain under the eaves, reading under the trees, board games, clothes drying, soil plowing and watering, grass pruning and fruit harvesting. Two huge lifting projection screens bring back the outdoor movie scene, and the black back panel also serves as an efficient sunshade adjustment device. Two high-hanging triangular pyramid acrylic lamps flick like stars. This is a paradise for the family cat. It varies every day and through daily adaptive transformation, people establish a deeper linkage and convergence with nature and their home. The daily practice itself attracts the attention and interest of the neighbors and the adjacent factory staff. Although separated by fences and palisades, everyone starts to discuss about renovations, gardening experiences and community affairs. House turns back into the place of confidence, sustenance and identity, rather than walls of isolation and cells of pale forms.

Considering the materials, beige yellow matte floor tiles are paved indoors and outdoors. Walls and ceilings are covered with light brown inorganic plaster. The aged courtyard wall tiles are re-covered with protective paint of the same color and the rusty railings remain at the same height while reinforced with khaki polyurethane hollow bricks. Simple and gentle atmosphere, instead of stimulation and complexity, strengthens the relaxing and natural state.

The central room
The original square dining area at the entrance is elevated by 18 centimeters and stretches out five tentacles in five directions to establish a transition sequence from outdoor to indoor. It is windmill-shaped on the plan and covers 25 ㎡. We call it “the central room”. It is separated from the wild field by three huge light brown painted off-axis revolving doors. There are steps and slopes from the wild field to the central room and then to other rooms. The ground is not flat and this transitional spatial sequence is perceived more by the change of pressure on the soles than by eyes. There is no single circulation space. The area extending to the field is combined with a cement-cast kitchen island and an open sideboard. It is a daily dining table that can offer simple food, provide wine and coffee for outdoors and is also a workbench and discussion table. A set of dark bronze painted wrought iron open hangers and a dressing table are juxtaposed by the slope, which is also suitable for quiet solo work. A desert-colored transparent resin basin is placed in the part extending to the toilet. The area extending to the kitchen is densely arranged with refrigerators, dishwashing, clothes washing and drying facilities. The area extending to the entrance door stands a shoe cabinet and wireless equipment. The central area lays an alcove which is suitable for reading, drinking tea and taking a nap. The island platform is often used as a high stool. The steps are used for watching movies and difficult push-ups and the ramp is a parkour ground for cats. The central room is small in size but filled with multiple layers, functions and wild fun. Scenes similar to movie storyboards and camera field depth often appear in daily life. A room that is actually compressed and partitioned is instead enlarged and extended in terms of psychology and use.
Although we did not expect it, there is an interesting result with the application of uneven ground and gradient transitional spaces. The door and window openings in the wild field zone are all 2.4m high and very wide. The openings in the central room are only 1.8m high and small in width. The scale changes gradually as you move on. The sight from the courtyard is slightly raised and the perspective effect is magnified. The space looks deep, far away and dark. Looking back from the central room requires a slight overlook. The perspective effect is weakened and the courtyard looks bright and green right in front of your eyes. Various unconventional sizes and visual deviations mobilize the subtle sense of change and deepen the spatial impression.

The bedroom
The remaining 25 ㎡ private room include a toilet, a kitchen and a bedroom. The toilet and kitchen are extremely tiny and minimalist. The bedroom integrates a bed, storage cabinets, air conditioners, lights, curtains, and a TV projection screen into a set of furniture with staggered heights. People can sit and lie down at all elevations, and projection can be achieved in all directions. Picnic tables and chairs, musical instruments and speakers, bedding cushions and daily sundries are all stored here, providing the possibility for the expansion and change of the wild field and central room.

Light and dark adjustment
If we look back at the memorable moments in natural life, there must be moments related to light and shadow. The scorching sun casts its mottled light through the gaps in the dense forest. The bright white moonlight casts its clear brilliance in the wilderness. Fireflies dance in the darkness and phosphorus fire wanders among the tombs. The warm lamp in the distance flicks in the dark. The silhouette of the bamboo leaves trembles over the skylight in rainy days. The dim yellow influx through the brick wall penetrated by bees. The knife-like light cut into the cracks of the dilapidated rafters and doors. Light and shadow accompany each other while day and night alternate. The rustic house seeks such a balance between light and dark. The wild field is filled with sunshine during the day and the shadows are mottled and varied. Two floor-to-ceiling projection screens are used to adjust. At night, the whole area is dark with only two triangular cone-shaped LED lights hanging high like stars rendering the 80㎡ space and clearly reminding the arrival of night. This is also the only place in the whole house where direct lighting functions. The central room and bedroom are deep with soft light during the day and can be completely darkened by closing the doors. All lights at night are filtered and guided through stucco-covered gypsum boards or light brown spray-coated aluminum boards, simulating the scenario where natural light penetrates into the house from all angles and heights in various forms. The individual light is set at low illumination power but numerous in numbers so that condition may change as needed. From the courtyard, through the deep darkness of the wild field, the lights of the rustic house sway and flick.

Compatibility and adaptation
Let us temporarily put aside the lengthy examination and discussion of the gains and losses from agricultural residence to today's urban housing, and summarize some of the characteristics essential to a sustainable house as follows: The form of residence should be adjusted to meet the real needs rather than uncritical acceptance of the product which is the same for everyone. We can neither choose general styles that are superficial but meaningless in practical. Only by confirming the basic identity and preserving diversity can long-term grantee the vitality. Its vision should never be exaggerated and its structure should be kept simple to avoid unbalanced purposes and redundant modifications that hinder the natural growth process. In the basic structure, it is necessary to retain an undefined place with the attribute of "wild field" which not only produces a high degree of connection and profound experience through daily life, but also embraces the power and feasibility to stimulate creativity and continuous evolution. A sustainable home is not completed after construction, but is perfected through daily adaptive adjustments, and ultimately achieves a relatively long and nearly eternal life cycle.

The rustic house has just started its growth.

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The Rustic House

Shanghai, China

The Rustic House

Shanghai, China

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

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