Mother’s House : Towards a New Rural Life
At the foot of Pofengling Scenic Spot, outside the Sixth Ring Road in the southwest of Beijing, there are scattered villages, and Xiying Village, where the “Mother’s House” located, is situated among them. This courtyard, originally designed for retired seniors, can also serve as a gathering place for three generations on weekends. And it was especially named “Mother’s House” in honor of the women who nurture life.
Preface
When the urbanization process makes the rural areas gradually become another variant of the city, the countryside loses its nostalgia and at the same time fails to get enough advantages and supports. Facing the increasing aging and hollowing out of the rural population, how to revitalize the villages through design and show the charm of countryside life to the urban people has been the hot social issues in recent years.
In fact, with better infrastructure and no longer constrained by the disadvantages of poor logistics and information, the countryside today has the opportunity to complement and connect with the city. Young people working in the city want to purchase additional housing to support their parents nearby. They need to take a break from their busy schedules of efficiency, targets, and tasks in their spare time, and feel the warmth of the family, the suburbs become the best choice for them.
In the near future, the countryside will be mobile, diverse and interconnected, offering spatial experiences and lifestyles not available in cities. New villages will attract new villagers and bring new forms of community. The “Mother’s House” project was born in this context as an independent experimental sample to help revitalize the villages. The architects reconstructed the living scene of a modern family in the countryside, and provided an answer for Xiying Village in Fangshan District to establish a new connection with the urban area of Beijing.
Mother’s House :
Towards a New Rural Life
An independent house with a courtyard is the vision of ideal living for a vast number of Chinese city families. Although today’s high-density urban environments can no longer provide residents with exclusive courtyard spaces, the vast lands in the suburbs still offer unlimited possibilities.
At the foot of Pofengling Scenic Spot, outside the Sixth Ring Road in the southwest of Beijing, there are scattered villages, and Xiying Village, where the “Mother’s House” located, is situated among them. This courtyard, originally designed for retired seniors, can also serve as a gathering place for three generations on weekends. And it was especially named “Mother’s House” in honor of the women who nurture life.
Most of the houses in the village face the south, and the boundaries of each homestead are relatively regular. The dense farmhouses and grid road network outline the pattern of streets and alleys. The main entrance to the “Mother’s House” is located on the east side of the site, fronting the main street, with both the north and south sides face the alley, and the west courtyard wall is shared with a neighbor. Under such actual site conditions, the architects began to structure the ideal residential scene of the countryside, thinking about what kind of buildings could fit into this imagination and how life here would change in the future...
Inside and Outside
Housing is not only a carrier of residential functions, but also an extension of culture. The “Inside” and “Outside” of a residence is an important relationship in traditional Chinese architectural culture, just like the “Yin” and “Yang” in ancient Chinese philosophy, which are interdependent, mutually reinforcing, and inseparable. The “Outside” is not an adjunct to the “Inside”, but the two are mutually beneficial, and even the “Inside” is designed to realize the “Outside”. In the “Mother’s House”, The area ratio between the building and the courtyard is close to 1:1, and the dynamic balance between the two is clarified through the concave and convex figure-ground relationship.
The gray space beneath the eaves of the entry door lies right in the center of the homestead, constituting the visual center of the entire courtyard and the spiritual field symbolizing family cohesion. This gray space enables residents to extend their daily activities to the outdoors throughout the year, enjoying the breeze on summer nights, making tea in the snow on winter days, and celebrating important holidays with the whole family.
On the south elevation, the windows of the main rooms act as viewfinders to bring the scenery of the courtyard into the interior, while blurring the boundary between “Inside” and “Outside”. The inward-looking courtyard is a place for people interaction with nature and protects the privacy of the interior, like an “Introverted Universe” that is free from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
Horizontal and Vertical
In the overall design of the interior space, the architects drew on traditional Asian spatial wisdom to expand the horizontal spatial hierarchy, and at the same time create a continuous and rich indoor vertical experience around the full-height atrium.
The floor plan of the “Mother’s House” is divided into three sections from east to west. The kitchen and dining room units near the main street are relatively lively, and the yard can be readily observed from the kitchen window. The full-height atrium space is located in the middle section and serves as a living area. The west side has a set of bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs and downstairs for quiet and privacy. On the east side of the second floor, there is a study, which can be customized as an activity space or even a bedroom in the future.
As the house is dedicated to mothers, the functional arrangement of the first floor can cover all the daily needs of the elderly. There are no steps indoors and outdoors, and the difference in heights is solved by ramps, so that the range of activities for senior users is guaranteed.
The design also opens up the vertical circulation spaces around the atrium, so that the sight lines from different angles can meet, making the communication among family members more three-dimensional and interesting. In addition, the transparent glass wall on the south facade maximizes the depth of space, allowing people to see the courtyard and the sky while sitting in the atrium. With an area of more than 100 square meters, this house not only realizes the diversity of functions, but also deepens the bond between family members.
V-shaped Roof and Light
Out of consideration for both scale and light, the roof of the “Mother’s House” is in the shape of a “V”, with the ridge lowered and outwardly spreading east and west wings. The reverse sloping roof ensures the comfort of the rooms on the second floor while avoiding the scale imbalance and spatial redundancy caused by the high atrium. From the street viewpoint, the V-shaped roof outlines a light and dynamic skyline, and the lowered portion of the roof leaves as much sight and light as possible for the next door house on the north side, avoiding interference with the neighbors.
Bay windows on the east and west gables add layers and interest to the facade and, together with high window openings in the two partitions of the atrium, create a pathway for light. The sunlight that changes over the course of the day travels along the sloping ceilings right into the living spaces, filling the entire home with natural life from morning to evening activities.
Material and Color
The main colors of the interior and exterior of the building are all earth tones, blending in with the rural environment. Various materials such as brick, stone, wood, metal, fabrics and paints interweave different temperatures and textures in the light and darkness, bringing people a natural, rustic, warm and comfortable feeling.
Project Details
Design Firm: CPLUS
Founding Partners: Cheng Yanchun, Li Nan
Architect in Charge: Cheng Yanchun
Project Team: Bo Chen, Liu Xiaoguang, Zhou Kefan
Program: Residential
Status: Built
Dates: April-November, 2023
Location: Beijing, China
Area: 144.2 sq.m.
Photographs: Liu Jing, Zhu Yumeng