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Architects: Someone Studio
- Area: 500 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Guijiadong Lin, Yitong Wang
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Lead Architects: Yitong Wang, Guijiadong Lin
Text description provided by the architects. Since the reform and opening up, with the construction of rural urbanization, the rural population has been continuously transferred to the cities, leaving a large number of idle houses in the countryside. In recent years, with the proposal of the "rural revitalization" strategy, the central and local governments have issued a series of support policies, combined with the pilot reform of the rural homestead system and the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas, to promote the revitalization and utilization of idle rural homesteads . Encouraged by this policy, the villagers of Shilong Village, Anji, are going to transform their idle yard into a garden-style restaurant, and commission Someone studio for the design. By investigating the existing catering shops in Shilong Village, we found that most of the local shops are in Chinese and European retro styles, and most of them retain the decoration style that was popular 20 years ago. Therefore, in order to widen the gap in visual style with the existing restaurants in the village, and at the same time achieve a higher cost performance, we hope to create the first modern-style garden restaurant in Shilong.
The site is an open space with an area of 1,000 square meters and three idle self-built houses in the 1990s. The three self-built houses are arranged in an L-shape, the roofs and internal wooden structures are aged, and the windows are small and the interior light is dim, which cannot meet the needs of commercial dining. In view of the current situation of the old house, we have adopted three renovation methods to gradually transform it into a modern and comfortable restaurant. First of all, we repair and replace the wood structure trusses that have been moth-eaten and decayed, rebuild the roof system, and add thermal insulation layers and waterproof layers on the wood frames. And the original leaky tile roof was replaced with a white treasure steel plate. In this way, the white roof and the wall are visually integrated, and the sense of sculpture and volume of the whole house is strengthened. The three houses are like three plaster blocks sitting on the site, waiting for the carving and display of light and shadow.
Secondly, we designed the windows on the facade of the building, combined with the internal functions, opened high windows in the business private room to ensure the privacy of dining, and opened large floor-to-ceiling windows in the leisure dining area to bring the natural scenery outside the house into the interior. At the same time, there is a corresponding relationship between the house and the windows between the houses, forming a contrasting effect with the trees in the courtyard. In the place where the leisure sofa and coffee table are placed, a low window is opened correspondingly, so that the person sitting down can be closer to the flowers and plants on the ground. Finally, a new block was implanted in the gap between the two buildings, and a spire shape with a gable wall facing inward was added, which echoes the form of the original building and does not appear too abrupt. It made full use of the land and added a private dining room. At the same time, the original three scattered units were connected in series to create the image of a new architectural community. At night, the indoor lights come out from the windows, because the different colors of the interior paint diffusely reflect different light. Part of the original rammed earth walls and traces of bamboo beams are retained in the interior, continuing the charm of this old house.
In addition to the three self-built houses that need to be renovated, there is still a large open space waiting to be renovated. Considering that Anji is well known to tourists for its green mountains and clear waters, people tend to prefer nature in their daily life rather than artificial environments. However, since the project site is located at the junction of villages and towns, it lacks innate natural landscape objectively. The only green is a small piece of woodland at the end of the site. In order to add natural fun and outdoor dining space, we set up a log cabin restaurant outside, and added micro-topography and vegetation on the visual axis from the entrance to the woods. The trees allow the cabin to be hidden in it, creating visual depth, maximizing the landscape effect, and creating a natural interest of being in a small forest as soon as you enter the site.
The wooden house is divided into six units in total, and each unit is different in size and shape. The overall height is well-proportioned, flexible and lively, and is flexibly combined with the environment. Three of the six wooden houses form a settlement, forming two groups, and the gap in the middle becomes the main path for pedestrians and employees to walk and deliver meals. The single shape of each wooden house is a polyhedral block with irregular bevels, cantilevered on a rectangular base, creating a feeling of being suspended in the jungle. Except for the wall of the entrance, which is flat, the rest of the surfaces are inclined at a certain angle. In order to create a feeling of lightness, suspension, and not obstructing the natural scenery, in addition to the design of overhanging each polyhedron block out of the foundation, this effect is also achieved by adding sunlight panels at the bottom. The wooden wall does not go straight to the end, but is combined with the sun panel, so that the upper part is solid and the lower part is empty.
At night, the orange lights in the interior come out from the sun panels and small windows, showing the wonder and uniqueness of the wooden house. The wooden house is based on a steel square welded frame, which is covered with thermal insulation cotton, pine board, and the outermost oak siding. The bottom foundation is cast-in-place concrete, and the upper part is custom-made by the factory, and then assembled and spliced after being transported to the site. The size, shape and position of the windows of each wooden house are different. During the day, they have the effect of ventilation. At night, the small windows that transmit light become the highlights of the restaurant. Considering that the horizontally spliced planks will be stacked, the outermost plank adopts the vertical splicing method to create a flat and smooth façade.
Due to the different heights and sizes of the wooden houses, they are divided into various types of private rooms. The lower wooden houses have their foundations hollowed out and people sit on the floor, suitable for 2-4 people to dine. In the taller wooden houses, standard height tables and chairs are placed for people who dine at family gatherings.
