标准营造

The Baitasi Pagoda from the thirteenth century is the oldest representative of Tibetan Buddhism in Beijing. The organically developed neighbourhood around the appendant Miaoying Temple has been a focus of planners for a number of years. The district with the important pagoda is situated on the western edge of the historical city near the second ring road. The horizontal district is filled with three- and five-storey buildings from the twentieth century. The existing courtyard houses continue to be densely occupied and there is a lack of sanitary as well as public facilities.

This converted, U-shaped courtyard house is located at the end of a cul-de-sac and surrounds a narrow courtyard. The architects opened up the façades towards the courtyard on three sides with large-scale glazing. The interior and exterior spaces are thus interconnected, with the courtyard with two trees extending the area. In the interior, the combination of concrete surfaces and natural wood constructions gives rise to a calm aesthetic that emphasizes the traditional elements of the historical structures. The rooms are used by a charitable educational organization that offers a daily program for residents of the neighbourhood.

For this project, the architects developed a sanitary block that combines a kitchen, bathroom, and toilet with storage space. The block can also be deployed independently in other courtyard houses and offers a solution for the residents’ most pressing problems, who must still use public toilets in the alley and whose kitchens are often accommodated in very improvised external structures in the courtyard.