Project year: 2015-2017

Project area: 684 m2

Built Area: 480 m2

Baisha Old town in Yunnan province is a small village part of Lijiang   well known for its Jade Dragon Snow Mountain range. It is still the most legit old town in Lijiang. The typical wood and mud brick houses welcome the visitor to discover the ancient life of the village.

Our project searches the limit of the urban fabric. We don’t look for a boundary between the cityscape and plot instead we think of an extension of the alleys through the town where the social life is allocated. We intend to create a little town within the town.

Our interest to explore these imaginary lines between private and public led to a configuration of single units scattered on the site creating a ramification of the town planning.

The project is considered from the existing urbanism but without a mere intention of repeating the old codes. It will add new value to the existing urban pattern. Creating the high density we would face the privacy and relationship with the surroundings. These two inputs would eventually configure the project.

These units are settled on a grid creating series of rows and each unit will rotate to create different situation on ground floor and open to the view. The existing trees determined also the position of the units. These accurate movements create a controlled random-like disposition.

The goal was to give as much privacy on the ground floor as possible extending the inner space towards the exterior while achieving unique views of the surrounding landscape for each cabin.

The architects soon realize the construction must follow some local technique but still wanted to explore the limits of it. Local crew immediately advice of the pitched roof but due to the square dimension of the rational structure the roof is shaped only one direction. It is the closeness of the units which would protect from the wind and rain.