- Project: Folding Roof Courtyard House
- Architect: MAT Office
- Location: China, Xishaogu Village, Miyun District, Beijing
- Year: 2021
- Area: 180 m2
- Photography: UK Studio
Project: Folding Roof Courtyard House
Architects: MAT Office
Location: Xishaogu Village, Miyun District, Beijing, China
Area: 1,937 sf
Year: 2021
Photographs by: UK Studio
Folding Roof Courtyard House by MAT Office
The Folding Roof Courtyard House in Xishaoqu Village, Beijing, is a unique project that repurposes a courtyard as a public space for leisure and homestay services. The structure was originally partially built, offering a challenge in redesign. The primary transformation was achieved through a continuously folded roof. This redesigned structure incorporates the north-south high windows, adding significant spatial enhancements and an identifiable feature when viewed from the village.
The project is located in Xishaoqu Village, Miyun District, Beijing. In this large village which is surrounded by mountains on three sides, most of the existing houses are traditional northern farmhouses. The owner of the project hopes to cooperate with the village to revitalize the vacant courtyards as a leisure place and weekend homestay, with the operation services provided by the villagers. Folding Roof Courtyard is one of these courtyards, which is planned as a public function, such as reception and workshop, due to its good site conditions.
The courtyard had been rebuilt before, and at the time we got the design commission, the main concrete frame structure and part of the roof had been completed. The building covers an area of about 180 square meters and consists of a main house and a wing house, the two houses are the same height of the double-pitched roof with an axis of east-west, but the depth of the wing is larger than the main house, and express an inappropriate proportion.
Based on the original concrete structure, we redefined the primary and secondary order and architectural form of the building through this continuously folded roof: the main house was partially raised, while the roof of the wing house was changed from two to four. The continuous roof brings north-south high windows to the interior space. View from the outside village, the high windows on the south side define the properties of the building’s public service function and can be well identified at night; From the interior of the building, two high windows on the north and south sides bring high ceilings and bright light to the workshop space in the wing.
