BUZZ Büro Ziyu Zhuang 庄子玉工作室

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang

COURTYARD NO.7 OF THE DRUM TOWER

RSAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Ziyu Zhuang, Na Li

MANUFACTURERS
AutoDesk, Trimble Navigation

DESIGN TEAM
Yi Liu, Fabian Wieser, Shifeng Zhang, Dongdong Chen, Wenpu Chai, Xiaoxu Liu, Mian Wang, Junya Huang

PHOTOGRAPHS
Hui Zhang, Schran Image

AREA
200 m²

YEAR
2018

LOCATION
Beijing, China

CATEGORY
Offices, Renovation

The Chinese-German office RSAA/ Büro Ziyu Zhuang renovated their office in the Beijing central axis. 

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Schran Image
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Schran Image
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Schran Image

The project, which is next to the tallest ancient landmarks of Beijing for more than 600 years – Drum Tower and Bell Tower- is adopted from a traditional Beijing-style courtyard; Siheyuan in Dongjiaogan Hutong.

The design target was to build a timeless workshop whilst embracing the surround cultural context into the yard. Therefore, the renovation was organized into 4 steps; 1. Refurbishing the old section using the traditional method; 2. Insert a “timeless box” as a “functional generator”;

3.Reform the interface of the new yard space; 4. Organize the new space sequences under the link of the new interfaces.

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang

To achieve the goals, after cleaning up some old unnecessary interfaces and exposed original traditional structures, Ziyu Zhuang and the team built a free-standing T-shaped volume made with glass to combine the original northern room, western room and eastern room in order to form a more efficient working environment.

With the step-by-step approach explained above, Ziyu Zhuang converted a single yard space with one single image into a multi-layered space that follows its own narrative sequence. Some small interesting spaces, therefore, appear along the new path.

One small yard on the north-western wing of the T-shape volume was filled with AC outdoor units from different rooms and artificial green plants as a “camouflaged green light well” behind an opaque glass wall.

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang

The kitchen space shares the wall with its neighbor, whilst reusing the original structural components (red) and original tiles (green). The overall construction cost of the kitchen was less than 5000Yuan(700USD).

And the total construction cost was very efficiently controlled to be within 200,000RMB(30,000 USD) including the MEP and furniture cost.

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang

RSAA believe this renovation could be a great symbol of the link between the traditional Chinese lifestyle and the modern space visions under low cost.

One bookcase on the north-eastern wing of the T-shape volume also plays a role as a staircase to the rooftop level, where the views of the two ancient towers are introduced into the yard.

Also, in this case, after strengthening the structure for loading, the pitched roof become the 3rd level of the activity space for office chatting, social gatherings and can even be a place for staff to relax and take a nap.

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Schran Image
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Hui Zhang

The high space in the northern room became the model display space, and together with the re- exposed tradition structural components such as the rafters, crescent beams and purlins, creates a very strong architectonic “image” with the wooden models, a concept that is also linked tightly with RSAA’s design philosophy.

Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Schran Image
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Courtesy of SAA/Büro Ziyu Zhuang
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
© Schran Image


Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Master Plan
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Plan


Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Section 01
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Section 02


Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Design Concept
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
DIagram


Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
The path and Scenes
Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
T shape volume expands the view


Courtyard No.7 Of The Drum Tower
Rendering map

BUZZ Büro Ziyu Zhuang 庄子玉工作室
T +86 10 8592 5380 F +86 10 85925380
BUZZ Büro Ziyu Zhuang 庄子玉工作室
No.7 Dongjiaogan Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing, China 100009 北京市西城区东轿杆胡同7号