Shanghai-based architecture practice genarchitects has designed the Yintingting Cottage, performing as an individual drawing room and a dining room for a rural hotel complex within a bamboo forest hillside in Tonglu, Zhejiang, China.

The 98-square-metre building is conceived as a secluded space where indoor and exterior courtyard is blurred to frame this mesmerizing forest. The building was transformed from a two-story folk house made of rammed earth into a new building.

Based on the site's conditions, the newly built structure had to follow the original footprint and height of the old structure. 

"That means the new building can only be the size of a normal living room," as genarchitects stated.

The house is blocked on all sides, but it has little access to scenery, with not too much design potential. 

The architects asked these questions to work on the conversion of this building: "Given such a small space, what else can we think of? Village style? Structural expression? Façade mannerism? Furniture selection?." 

"It took us some time to realize that it is the wall of the courtyard that is the real boundary of our feelings. We do not merely make the room facing the courtyard, but tried to bring the garden inside as part of the drawing-room."

Image © genarchitects

The cottage almost disappears within the forest, as the visitors getting close to the structure, they can perceive the scale. 

On the ground floor, all things are treated as equal elements such as staircase, washroom, dumbwaiter, basin, furniture, plants, soil, and even the flooring and doors. The studio studied the placement of these components and made them scattered while looking holistic. 

"It was a piecemeal feeling. Sliding doors at the front can be all opened, leaving only a screen layer whenever needed," the studio explained. 

"Due to the limited width of the screen production (i.e. the production size of the screen is smaller than the glazing), two screens were combined with a slightly curved reed-like metal bar as the partition."

Upon arriving the second floor, visitors are immediately hugged by an identified form in dim light. A large circular dining table makes a statement for this floor, only the table itself is illuminated. A portion of the bamboo grove was cropped out by the window frame, with no beginning or end, taking on an abstract look. 

Due to the shape of the roof, the structure of the second floor looks lantern-like. "This secondary structure of battens is circled and fixed on the central wooden keels. The keels are then fastened onto the concrete structure at the top and bottom. insulation material and sound-absorbing cotton are installed in the middle," explained the studio.

On the ground level, the architects place two courtyards: the outer one and the inner one. The outer bright one contains a twisted route with saturated plants towards the gate of the pavilion, while the inner shadowy one is a tranquil place at the back. 

The lounge area is surrounded by plants, which are controlled with similar sizes together with other architectural objects. These all, on the ground floor, become a uniform entity.

The building is combined with completely dark furniture, and with the tranquility of green that it gives, it offers a serene, cozy atmosphere.

Based on these, the archietcts' intention was to create two distinct atmospheres in the building, which probably stems from a paranoid image – at the end of a secluded courtyard, there is a “one-story building”, and people outside cannot see what is happening inside the fence. Although this building stands tall, it does not gaze around.

Image © genarchitects 

Image © genarchitects 

Image © genarchitects 

Site plan

Masterplan

First floor plan

Second floor plan

Site section

Section

Exploded structural diagram

Garden vegetation

Furniture & Lighting customization 

Project facts

Project name: Yitingting Cottage

Architects: genarchitects

Location: Hangzhou, China

Size: 98m2

Date: 2019

All images © Hao Chen unless otherwise stated.

All drawings © genarchitects

> via genarchitects