Articles by Collin Chen

In contrast to the extremely urbanized downtown, the mountain area surrounding the city center of Beijing is still kept rural and natural. The site was a primary school abandoned for years in a mountain village in Beijing, consisting of four rows of brick and timber frame houses arranged in a repeated way and surrounded by high perimeter walls. As a rental property, the client wanted to renovate it into a high-end boutique hotel. Due to the lease terms and local regulations, any addition, subtraction, or major change to the original structures was not allowed. The project hired local villagers for construction in order to strengthen the connection with the village. Affected by the COVID-19 traffic controls, the building materials had to be sourced from locations as close as possible, while the actual construction time was only three months. Therefore, we had to find a low-tech and light intervention strategy to reform the site experience.

In contrast to the extremely urbanized downtown, the mountain area surrounding the city center of Beijing is still kept rural and natural. The site was a primary school abandoned for years in a mountain village in Beijing, consisting of four rows of brick and timber frame houses arranged in a repeated way and surrounded by high perimeter walls. As a rental property, the client wanted to renovate it into a high-end boutique hotel. Due to the lease terms and local regulations, any addition, subtraction, or major change to the original structures was not allowed. The project hired local villagers for construction in order to strengthen the connection with the village. Affected by the COVID-19 traffic controls, the building materials had to be sourced from locations as close as possible, while the actual construction time was only three months. Therefore, we had to find a low-tech and light intervention strategy to reform the site experience.

Bouyei traditional villages in the mountains
Banwan Village is located in the mountains of southwest Guizhou province. This is a very well preserved traditional Buyi village because of its remoteness. In 2016, Banwan Village was selected to be the target of reconstruction by TV station. They built a primary school there. After the mass shoot, the mountain fell silent again. Nonprofit organizations run Minor renovations until in the village. At the end of 2020, “Almost Studio” entered the mountain based on the works of senior designers. It presided over the transformation design of Bouyei traditional buildings and the environmental construction of the whole village. The cutting-edge technical is not necessary in rural area, countryside needs “not so smart” architect. Sometimes rural design has nothing to do with popular aesthetics. it requires architects to take root in the site patiently, design architectural issues from a local perspective with local materials. Architects should evaluate the technical level of the construction team and consider logistics and costs, ignore design boundaries and solve local problems effectively