01 Location and Context

Weihai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine is situated in a coastal pinus thunbergii forest in East New Town, Weihai, near the sea. Covering an area of approximately 8000㎡, it functions as a comprehensive healthcare facility with three main components: the programme exhibition centre, Kangyang Yile Sanatorium, and medical care houses.

02 Site and Design Philosophy

The hospital is built on a former area of dilapidated bungalows, chosen to preserve the surrounding pinus thunbergii forest. Faced with the popular trend of using Chinese elements in architecture, the architects and the proprietor agreed on "imitating but not copying" traditional Chinese styles. This project explores contemporary expressions of traditional northern Chinese courtyards.

03 Architectural Concept

The design retains the essence of Chinese courtyard structures, focusing on their scale and form based on research of traditional cases. Modern materials and construction techniques achieve a balance between the site's experiential value and contemporary features. The designers classified courtyards into types—four walls, two walls with facing buildings, and four buildings on each side—connecting them through corridors aligned along north-south and east-west axes. This arrangement recreates the layered tour experience typical of traditional courtyards.

04 Spatial Structure and Layout

The courtyards are arranged to enclose a half-open central garden facing the pinus thunbergii forest. Two yardsticks of varying width divide the central garden into a half-open court and a water court. This layout creates a rich spatial experience with buildings and walls forming nested courtyards and gardens.

05 Material and Design Elements

The construction inherits the basic form of traditional northern architecture but uses contemporary materials such as aluminum-magnesium-manganese, steel, wood, and weather-resistant stones. Simplified architectural details restore traditional styles while maintaining a modern aesthetic. The car entrance is capped with stone and aluminum, separating vehicle and pedestrian areas and enhancing the scenery with plaques, pines, and metal blinds.

06 Scenery-Borrowing Technique

The method of scenery-borrowing integrates the surrounding forest into the courtyards, blending purity and elegance with the vigorous external scene. The main entrance courtyard, surrounded by four walls, changes the road direction from west to south. Symmetrically aligned with the north-south axis, the entrance features a mirror waterscape, enhancing the hospital's entrance scene.

07 Courtyard Arrangement

The second courtyard, surrounded by round corridors with eaves, reflects the Chinese philosophy of "a square earth and spherical heavens." Its waterscape, collecting rainwater, varies in appearance with the seasons. The third courtyard, forming a three-side enclosure, opens to the eastern forest and backyard, creating a sequence of spaces from enclosed to open. This progression includes a lawn-centered court, a waterscape court, and an ornamental waterscape court.