Disassemble-reassemble, dismantle-reconstruct, disjoin-rejoin are contrasting pairs, extreme terms but also devices that help producing a new entity without erasing what history has produced or deleting existing identities. Thus, they appear as the only viable tools in a society that is undeniably globalized.

As a tribute to the Yin Yu Tang House, that, originally located in the village of Huizhou in the Anhui Chinese province, was dismounted and re-erected at the Peabody Essex Museum as a way of narrating China’s reminiscences, memories and traditions, we decided to disassemble a traditional Chinese villa (typical of the region where the site is located) in order to reassemble it, under a new set of rules, in the competition area. In particular, we transformed what was originally conceived as an extensive building system into a solution where the volumes are stacked thus giving place to a real housing unit. The basement, detached from the rest of the house, is reminiscent of the ancient villa’s public and common area, while the house proper is at the upper level that represents, instead, a private place, hidden from indiscreet stares, just like it used to be with the traditional enclosure.

So, while maintaining some key elements typical of the Chinese tradition, we designed a modern, flexible house based on the principles of environmental sustainability. The first two floors house an exhibition area and a double-height studio, both fitted with a sliding walls system that makes the space totally flexible. The house at the third level is also defined by sliding panels that ensure the creation of multiple spatial layouts, with the different dwellings that may be combined in various manners. Finally, at the fourth level a garden includes some significant and symbolic elements also typical of the tradition such as the door, in this case signalled by a spiral staircase, the path, emphasized by a broken line where some bonsai trees are placed, water that here becomes a swimming-pool, and finally variously placed rocks also evoking a traditional disposition.

All the apartments are conceived as independent units but can also be variously aggregated, an arrangement made possible by the entry stair and the central patio-hothouse. This element, that evokes the ancient court and the traditional Chinese patio, becomes the building’s main feature. Developed on two levels (with the hothouse lit by a system of reflecting panels placed in the interstitial space between public and private areas at the lower level, while the patio reaches the garden’s level), the patio-hothouse affects the entire space, both public and private, and is made of a transparent double glazing structure within which both rainwater and water from the swimming pool flow. The patio-hothouse provides light, marks the passing of time and creates particular optical effects but also serves another function: it collects rainwater and makes it available for domestic use. Today more than ever, water is a precious resource that has a symbolic meaning but is above all a vital element that must be preserved at any cost. The system has been conceived so that it conveys the water through the double glazed walls into a large underground tank where, treated and distilled, it is ready for use in all the apartments.