Ten Courtyard Houses

Suzhou, China

Architects: TM Studio

Year: 2005

Location: Xiangcheng District, Suzhou

Year: 2005

Architect: TONG Ming

Site area: 600 m2

Floor area: 380-410 m2

The Ten Courtyard Houses Project considered the integration of the contemporary housing expectations and the values of the traditional courtyard house.

In the research for the idea, the original design of single free standing villas was de-architecturalized, dismantled and reconfigured in a new program, minimizing the merit from the rational structure, the formalistic appearance, the specific spaces and the elegant details. After that the design became a three dimensional Jigsaw game with no specific image, only criteria were concerned. The houses were designed on the same plot area (F.A.R.) as before, as well as material and spatial requirement in each function. Each result reveals the new possibility. This strategy enables the relationship of housing to be imagined differently, an architecture free from delusive notions.