Atelier Liu Yuyang Architects (ALYA)

The project calls for the renovation of a small courtyard house in Guan Shu Yuan Hutong, Beijing, which is located between the famed Yonghe Tibetan Temple and the historical Imperial Academy. The client is an art collector from Shanghai, whose wish is to reinvent this “pocket-house” into a gallery with a “Shanghai ambiance” for his ceramic art works. Design starts with two parallel aspects: On the one hand, to infill a series of copper-plated steel display windows and veneered wood display shelves within the original wooden frames of the house, thus creating an integrated contrast of tradition and modernity; On the other hand, to recreate a courtyard reminiscent of the Jiangnan (south of Yangzi) regionalist expression and articulation.