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Yuanmen Qingxi .Primary School Guesthouse Renovation
Yuanmen Qingxi .Primary School Guesthouse Renovation
Chongqing, China
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Other Projects by Atelier KAI Architectes
Yuanmen Qingxi .Primary School Guesthouse Renovation
Chongqing, China
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2021
SIZE
5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft
BUDGET
$500K - 1M
Crossing the bustle of the ancient town “Pian Yan”, there are several scattered villages and layers of farmlands. Marching the paths in forest alone the Heishuitan river. This path upstream to Jindaoxia reservoir and downstream to Pianyan town even to the main districts of Chongqing city. Turning one more corner, the first thing comes to eyes is an ancient stone arch bridge. One side of the rock under the bridge has been chiseled into several caves and placed with Buddhist statues, which became a small temple at the entrance to the village. Wander down the bridge and through the temple, you can see this abandoned building accompanied by several ancient Ficus virens.
The stone bridge, the water bay, the temple, the ancient trees and the abandoned building have formed my general perception of the site when I first saw it.
The abandoned building was originally a primary school. When you walk into classrooms, you can see the blackboard, the Bulletin board, the chalk box, and the inlaid tile map. The past has left a motley trace in the building, and it is hidden like hand prints.
Therefore, it is necessary to make it clear that what needs to be restored in the Yuanmen Primary School are neither the unverifiable physical form and easily acquired figurative objects nor a nostalgic setting of an old school implanted with an accommodation function.
Among the three buildings in the site, on the south is a two-storey building with four classrooms on each story. On the north is a three-storey building with one ring for classrooms and other small rooms for teachers’ offices and accommodations. The south building and north building are brick concrete structure, and because of the terrain, there is a level difference between two buildings. The west building has a much longer history, with stone walls and wooden beams.
The reconstruction started from the replanning of circulation. Because of the south building is lying on a lower terrain and surrounded by the ancient trees, there is a feeling of gradually bright and raising atmosphere change if you enter from the south building and climb the stairs. In order to strengthen this feeling of atmosphere change, we decide to built a single-slope roof rather than carry out the expansion of guestrooms after the demolition of the west building’s first floor, so that we obtain a widen transparent view when we stand on top of the stairs.
Combined with the new courtyard opened up, the visitor reaches the end of west side. The visual view is suddenly enlarged after passing through the lower eave of the single-slope roof and a low wall beneath it. The stream nearby, the mountains in the distance, and scattered village houses are all captured by your eyes. The winding walking flows, the hidden shadow in the low place and the transparent in the high place make this place become the “amplifier” of body perception.
In fact, this walking flow has changed a lot. The offset of the main entrance, the new view opened up on the west, and two entrances of secondary walking flows are carefully hidden. The relationship between three houses and four Ficus Virens has been reset.
In this project, the combination of the topography, the arrangement of the walking flows and the excavation of the courtyard opens the possibilities for multiple experiencing. The relationship between the body and objects is what we emphasize in our design, we hope visitors’ various body posture, each single turn around can help them see something familiar in an unfamiliar way, maybe it is a rare experience.
As one of the important nodes of the transformation of rhythm of the walking flow, the courtyard has to ensure the privacy of guestrooms surrounded. The open space between the two rows of building is taken as the core, and three buildings are enclosed to create an encircled courtyard with height difference. The corridor will no longer be isolated but a part of the courtyard. A new-built upwards stairway on the east end of the corridor was created so that the corridor is no longer the end but part of the encircle.
When the courtyard fills up water, the reflection of the water brings the scenery into courtyard. Meanwhile, at the interface with height difference, the rhombic pine grills with a spacing of 6cm divides the courtyard, blurs the distance between the corridor and the courtyard, and ensures a certain extent of privacy. The expanded roof extends appropriately 1 metre to strengthen the sense of enclosure of the courtyard. The vertical grilles are 0.6 metre away from the platform, for the people in the corridor below, their sight expands horizontally.
Besides, the courtyard also plays the role as a rainwater collector. Rainwater flows from the top of the slope into the metal eaves gutter, and is guided into a falling concrete pilot bridge by vertical iron chains. Finally, it slowly flows into the pool in courtyard peacefully.
The 13 guestrooms of Yuanmen B&B are evolved from original school building. The standard classrooms in the south building are designed as guestroom with a mezzanine, windows face to the stream and ancient trees. The music classroom in the west ring of the north building is designed as guestroom with landscapes come from 3 direction, and the rest of offices and staff dormitories are designed as one to two bay standard rooms according to its deep and width. All the windows and balconies of guestrooms create different landscape views.
With the change of the perspective of looking things, through steps, eaves, windows and holes, we are able to re-observe the specific form of these ancient trees, streams and arch bridge, which will reveal the possibility of this building’s continued existence along with trees and streams.
The stone bridge, the water bay, the temple, the ancient trees and the abandoned building have formed my general perception of the site when I first saw it.
The abandoned building was originally a primary school. When you walk into classrooms, you can see the blackboard, the Bulletin board, the chalk box, and the inlaid tile map. The past has left a motley trace in the building, and it is hidden like hand prints.
Therefore, it is necessary to make it clear that what needs to be restored in the Yuanmen Primary School are neither the unverifiable physical form and easily acquired figurative objects nor a nostalgic setting of an old school implanted with an accommodation function.
Among the three buildings in the site, on the south is a two-storey building with four classrooms on each story. On the north is a three-storey building with one ring for classrooms and other small rooms for teachers’ offices and accommodations. The south building and north building are brick concrete structure, and because of the terrain, there is a level difference between two buildings. The west building has a much longer history, with stone walls and wooden beams.
The reconstruction started from the replanning of circulation. Because of the south building is lying on a lower terrain and surrounded by the ancient trees, there is a feeling of gradually bright and raising atmosphere change if you enter from the south building and climb the stairs. In order to strengthen this feeling of atmosphere change, we decide to built a single-slope roof rather than carry out the expansion of guestrooms after the demolition of the west building’s first floor, so that we obtain a widen transparent view when we stand on top of the stairs.
Combined with the new courtyard opened up, the visitor reaches the end of west side. The visual view is suddenly enlarged after passing through the lower eave of the single-slope roof and a low wall beneath it. The stream nearby, the mountains in the distance, and scattered village houses are all captured by your eyes. The winding walking flows, the hidden shadow in the low place and the transparent in the high place make this place become the “amplifier” of body perception.
In fact, this walking flow has changed a lot. The offset of the main entrance, the new view opened up on the west, and two entrances of secondary walking flows are carefully hidden. The relationship between three houses and four Ficus Virens has been reset.
In this project, the combination of the topography, the arrangement of the walking flows and the excavation of the courtyard opens the possibilities for multiple experiencing. The relationship between the body and objects is what we emphasize in our design, we hope visitors’ various body posture, each single turn around can help them see something familiar in an unfamiliar way, maybe it is a rare experience.
As one of the important nodes of the transformation of rhythm of the walking flow, the courtyard has to ensure the privacy of guestrooms surrounded. The open space between the two rows of building is taken as the core, and three buildings are enclosed to create an encircled courtyard with height difference. The corridor will no longer be isolated but a part of the courtyard. A new-built upwards stairway on the east end of the corridor was created so that the corridor is no longer the end but part of the encircle.
When the courtyard fills up water, the reflection of the water brings the scenery into courtyard. Meanwhile, at the interface with height difference, the rhombic pine grills with a spacing of 6cm divides the courtyard, blurs the distance between the corridor and the courtyard, and ensures a certain extent of privacy. The expanded roof extends appropriately 1 metre to strengthen the sense of enclosure of the courtyard. The vertical grilles are 0.6 metre away from the platform, for the people in the corridor below, their sight expands horizontally.
Besides, the courtyard also plays the role as a rainwater collector. Rainwater flows from the top of the slope into the metal eaves gutter, and is guided into a falling concrete pilot bridge by vertical iron chains. Finally, it slowly flows into the pool in courtyard peacefully.
The 13 guestrooms of Yuanmen B&B are evolved from original school building. The standard classrooms in the south building are designed as guestroom with a mezzanine, windows face to the stream and ancient trees. The music classroom in the west ring of the north building is designed as guestroom with landscapes come from 3 direction, and the rest of offices and staff dormitories are designed as one to two bay standard rooms according to its deep and width. All the windows and balconies of guestrooms create different landscape views.
With the change of the perspective of looking things, through steps, eaves, windows and holes, we are able to re-observe the specific form of these ancient trees, streams and arch bridge, which will reveal the possibility of this building’s continued existence along with trees and streams.
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