House at the bottom of the valley

The Peacock House is located deep in the Taihang Mountains area of western Beijing, a low point in a valley village. The area of the venue is about 100 square meters. When we first visit, we feel congested, whether indoors or in the yard. The old houses are dim and the yard is narrow and messy. In the middle of a mountain, it is difficult to feel the surrounding scenery.

Go High To Be High

The owner of the Sparrow House is a guest who has visited the house on the platform. At the first meeting, the owner expressed to us his love for the open view of the house on the table; repeated his wish, and the desire to have a terrace where you can see the scenery from above. I think, going up high, it's like people's desire to build some kind of hideaway. Whether it's the Primitive hut, the basis of many theories, or the most widespread architectural legend (Tower of Bable), there is always one source that guides us to the heights. Stay away from the order on the ground, the threats, and the resulting anxiety. If building is replaced by physical and mental training for shelter, then go to the heights and freedom will come again.
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Conflict Conflict

In this low, narrow site, our design mission was to build a well-experienced mountain residence. It includes three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and a spacious, functional common area. Take 165 square meters of house and cram into this 100 square meter site. The inevitable rise of buildings, how to operate a house that develops vertically and adapts to the environment, is also the characteristic and premise of our “coherence” experiment this time.
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Beauty and Warrior with Zhang Fei

We initially tried to preserve the old wooden houses and build lightly with local steel structures, to alleviate the overwhelming sense of pressure on the neighborhood. However, after several rounds of planning, the conflict between the two structural systems became apparent. People seem to live in a series of joist forests. The old building was forced to abandon and build an identical mass, unified lightweight construction system in its original location. As a whole, it still looks like a new shape is superimposed on the original mass. This also becomes the final formative source of the building. This process reminds us of the bridge section in traditional sonorous: a beautiful painting on a fan, the final word is not reached, and the string is changed to a flying dance. I think this shift in coherence-based thinking seems to be vivid and effective.
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Slope

We reserved a small courtyard of 4 meters by 5 meters in the site. Referring to other building forms inside and outside the venue, the towering building mass on the west side also synchronizes the sloping rear. In the courtyard, the feeling of oppression is eliminated, one can only feel the height of one layer of the eaves. THIS LARGE SLOPE EXTENDS TO THE NORTHERN ELEVATION AND JOINS THE SLOPES TO THE WEST TO FORM A TRIANGLE AT THE TOP. While the two slopes on the north side extend west on both sides of the north side and the south side into the northwest mass overlap, forming a continuous complete public space down the slope, and one of the bedrooms on the slope is occupied by a series of backstairs. In fact, the slope becomes the boundary between public and private areas. DOWNHILL IS A TOWERING SINGLE-STOREY COMMUNAL UNIT; ON THE SLOPE IS A TWO-STOREY BEDROOM FORMED BY COMBINING THE SOUTH-NORTH GROUND HEIGHT DIFFERENCE. Relative to a stable plane, the slope is a dynamic type. In this process, the flow of body, movement, light, air are also shaped.
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Blur the Boundary

This fluid spatial pattern is consistent with the intrinsic requirements of the public area, especially under the very small area requirements of this project. Eliminate the walls between the different areas of the kitchen, restaurant, living room and video entertainment room, complete transparency and blurred boundaries. The height difference between the middle and north of the former venue has been converted into a three-tier viewing platform in the video entertainment room. The height difference becomes a hidden regional boundary instead of the wall. Also try to set the circular glass between the cottage and the small yard, and the light in the morning comes in through the glass window, blurring the difference between the inside and outside. Different directions, different locations, different heights, try to form as transparent openings as possible in the gaps of materials and structures. For example, between the top of the wall and the sloping roof, visitors can involuntarily raise their heads indoors and see the distant mountains outside the window.
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House of Mountain birds

Although the plane scales are contrasted, there is a wide variety of vertical space up and down the slope. Two steep staircases on the south and north sides of the venue carry people through their activities. Downslope common areas, opening holes at the top of the one-story ceiling, rotating stairs and exhaust flues through openings, connecting the common area with the rooftop viewing platform. While the bedroom area on the south side is separated to a maximum extent by another single-run staircase connecting the upper and lower floors, different places that are dynamic and static. In addition to going up and down the slope, this dynamic of moving up and down the different areas differs from our usual interstair layering system. More like the day of a bird in the forest. This is also the origin of the name of the Birch House.
In addition to the slopes and the wrong level between the ground and the roof, the steep staircase connection, another characteristic of the Sparrow House is the sense of scale approaching the limit. The central part of the bedroom on the second floor is embodied. The space is so small that it is impossible to arrange the washbasin in the bathroom. We take the traffic space directly up the stairs, cut out a part of it and give a continuous washstand. In this way, the common area and the boundaries of the interior of each bedroom are blurred. The bedroom door turns into a sliding door with unequal width up and down. When the door is closed, the strange door fan bites against the washstand, separating the bedroom from the inside and outside.
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Material and Texture Material and Texture

On the one hand, the space strategy of the Sparrow House is a response to venue limits. On the other hand, the choice and matching of construction and materials is also a response to limited budgets. Wave-shaped metal sheet, pine plywood, latex paint and polished concrete floor. All are inexpensive materials and practices. The contrast of the roof and ceiling, the contrast of metal and wood, the difference in the color of the material, the cold and warm, combined with the shape of the double slope, the building naturally brings a certain sense of shelter. The steel beams below the slope are exposed in the public space, and the decoration no longer becomes part of the feeling of space. Rotating stair steel wood combined to ensure the safety of the structure while improving the cold surface of the steel. The polished concrete floor is seamless and makes the public space feel more cohesive. The courtyard fence still retains its original stone construction to reflect the environment.

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Project Information
Project Name: Birch House — Freedom is about going to the heights
Project Type: Detached House
Designer: Cazha Office
Project Design: 2021
Year of Completion: 2022
Design team: Cheng Hai, Wudi, Pan Juhao
Project Address: Building 22, Baihutou Village, Jaitang Town, Mentouguo District, Beijing
Building Size: 168 ㎡
Photo copyright: Zhu Yuen, Cheng Hai
Structural Engineer: Goksomer
Clients: Song Shuai, Wang Mi-chao
MATERIAL: ALUMINIUM MAGNESIUM MANGANESE CORRUGATED METAL ROOF PANEL, PINE PLYWOOD
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