Reshape the dream for ' Siheyuan'
When the cultural and social structure that gave birth to such architectural forms no longer exist, we should be critical when it comes to the preservation and reinterpretation of these building styles. Some are simply copying the style without acknowledging the world that these buildings were created for is long gone and treat historic forms as some sort of commodity. Others take the opposite approach and put these historic buildings on a pedestal, alienating them from the contemporary world. But in the first project of my portfolio, I examined the potential of reinventing “Sihe Yuan”, a traditional courtyard residential typology that is usually seen in northern China. The purpose of this project is to continue the spatial mechanism of this ancient typology that is all about translating social codes into spatial codes and redeploying that philosophy to create a contemporary housing project. The new project may not bear much physical resemblance to the traditional courtyard house, but what they share is much deeper and much more meaningful.