Fuha Hotel is set within the historical Beijing’s Hutong residential area. Is it possible to create a contemporary Hotel product without disturbing the historical context? How can we learn from the past to inform the future? An idea is to create a contemporary experience driven by an ancient spirit. The project theme is a vernacular architecture spatial re-activation through its function, program and materialization.

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Siheyuan courtyard house is the typical unit found in Beijing’s Hutong urban fabric. It’s  essential qualities are conveyed using a sophisticated design language to create a unique guest experience. What are the main qualities of Siheyuan typology that can inspire a contemporary architecture?

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• Arrival - An intimate arrival experience is inspired by the Siheyuan entrance gate, which acts as medium between an inner and outer worlds.

• Lounge - Open space with loose furniture and casual atmosphere. It’s material identity recalls an archetypal Hutong blue brick/stone walls thus merging with the surrounding context and an idea of Siheyuan.

• Screens - Surrounding the courtyard and serves as a medium for creating subtle atmosphere and material changes between an inner and outer worlds.

• Courtyard - An unexpected inner sanctuary and heart of the space. It provides the surrounding functions with the light and character. While staying within the private piece of heaven, the guest can contemplate and enjoy all seasons and day changes.

• Space – A feeling of freedom and comfort whereby simultaneously having a possibility of creating something new and unpredictable, which makes the whole space flexible and functional, is provided by the cortyard’s fullness of the void.