Genarchitects 亘建筑事务所

Shangsian Cottage

Shangsian Cottage
Birdview of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou

SHANGSIAN COTTAGE

genarchitects

ARCHITECTS
genarchitects

STRUCTURE CONSULTANT
Zhun Zhang

SITE SUPERVISION
Xun Zhang

DESIGN TEAM
Zhe Xue, Xun Zhang, Xiaoyi Chen, Yiqian Luo, Yang Liu, Shuting Tao, Huanlingzi Lei

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Beilei Fan, Rui Kong

PHOTOGRAPHS
Bowen Hou

AREA
1097 m²

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
Huzhou, China

CATEGORY
Hotels, Renovation

Text description provided by architect.

Located on the west shore of Taihu Lake, shangsi’an village is flown through by Si’antang creek. A historic stone bridge connects two sides of the creek.

Shangsian Cottage
View from the riverbank to the 5th courtyard house before renovation. Image © Bowen Hou
Shangsian Cottage
Gable wall of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou
Shangsian Cottage
External view of 6th courtyard house after renovation. Image © Bowen Hou

There is a significant public space near the bridge, which consists of evergreen trees and existed pavilions.

Six buildings scattered throughout the village were chosen by the client in order to be transformed into a distributed country hotel.

Among these six buildings, there is a traditional-style exhibition hall nearby the bridge.

Shangsian Cottage
Guest room and Tea House of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou
Shangsian Cottage
Steel extension of 6th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou
Shangsian Cottage
Path of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou

Due to its unique location, we transformed it into a public living space for the entire hotel, where serves as a teahouse and library opened to both guests and villagers.

Other buildings including a timber house from late Qing dynasty, a warehouse, as well as three two-story buildings with tile facade has been converted into hotel rooms.

Without new walls, these buildings stand with original local paths and yards, only some hints on the pavement.

Shangsian Cottage
Second floor corridor of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou
Shangsian Cottage
Internal view of 6th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou

In this case, villagers might pass through the hotel area in their daily life. We try to answer questions with the buildings’ distinguishing situation.

For example, we redesigned unsteady buildings after demolition, adjusted the tile facade buildings’ functions and relink them to landscape, simply strengthened the timber house.

Shangsian Cottage
View from the living space of 5th courtyard house to the creek and bridge. Image © Bowen Hou
Shangsian Cottage
Guest room of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image © Bowen Hou

Moreover, in front of the small exhibition hall located, the urban-flavor granite stairs have been replaced by the grassy slope. We also constructed an outdoor space by setting up a light pavilion, so that both villagers and guests can stay and chat there, feeling the natural breath surrounded by the creek.


Shangsian Cottage
First floor Plan of 1st-4th courtyard house
Shangsian Cottage
First floor Plan of 5th courtyard house


Shangsian Cottage
Model of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image Courtesy of genarchitects
Shangsian Cottage
Model of 6th courtyard house. Image Courtesy of genarchitects
Shangsian Cottage
Model of 5th courtyard house. Image Courtesy of genarchitects
Shangsian Cottage
Construction diagram of the 6th courtyard house. Image Courtesy of genarchitects
Shangsian Cottage
Section of 1st-4th courtyard house. Image Courtesy of genarchitects


Shangsian Cottage
Courtesy of genarchitects
Shangsian Cottage
Site plan
Shangsian Cottage
Second floor Plan of 1st-4th courtyard house

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