W House

Thu Jun 30, 2016HousesChina, Mainland2012

W House

SLOW office

ARCHITECTS
Slow Office

PHOTOGRAPHS
Zhiwei Fei

AREA
285 M²

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Beijing, China

CATEGORY
Houses

Text description provided by architect.

This is a studio and residence built from the renovation and expansion of a small single-story building inside a factory campus. The original building is brick structure with slope roof.

Now we take away the old roof and change it into three stories by making use of original brick walls and adding new light wooden structure walls.

Since the surrounding environment is relatively messy, we put office and workshop which is not so private on the first floor facing the campus and make the outside relatively close.

The living functions are put onto the second floor from where the orchard and farmland on the west can be seen. The third floor consists two lofts and an outdoor terrace.

The functions are organized as a series of platforms, from office on first floor, then dining room, living room, kitchen on second floor, finally to loft and terrace on third floor, spiraling up the two-story high atrium.

The height differences between the platforms are determined in a way that some of the terraces are floors as well as big seats where people can sit leisurely.

Due to the adjustment of sightlines by design of openings, the messy factory is hardly seen from the living space and the main view becomes the orchard.

These treatments create a very casual atmosphere that when friends come to visit, they can sit and chat in the living space naturally without any cabined feeling.

We set not handrail but walls with big openings surrounding the atrium. This has concerns about the space as well as the function of strengthening the structure.

With these walls, the entire space cannot be seen at one sight. A layered space that is separated and connected at the same time is created.

Now the first floor has a wood workshop along with our architecture office. The samples of our wood products are also made here.