Design Conditions. Site: A recently built courtyard house (Si He Yuan) at the entrance to Wudaoying Hutong, opposite of the Lama Temple. The program: A vegetarian restaurant Space. This was an interior design project. Based on our respect for the basic structure of the courtyard house, we reorganized the interior spaces. The entrance of the restaurant was altered and moved from the southern rooms to the passageway on the west, in order to allow users to pass through a series of labyrinthine transitional spaces before arriving at the central courtyard. In order to achieve the required floor area, one of the original courtyards had to be covered. Yet we still hoped to preserve the feeling of two courtyards. Thus we made the covered courtyard as transparent and bright as possible. An eight-panel folding hanging screen was employed to create a scale that is both open and intimate. This design results in a contrast between an indoor courtyard space and an outdoor courtyard space. Other spaces were developed surrounding the courtyards.
View moreView full description
