A wish to give their mixed-race daughter a more stable and free growth environment has yielded a home of oriental artistic conception.
A top-floor apartment located on the west side of Beihai, one of the most prosperous areas in Beijing, the renovation of the home is helmed by designer Wang Daquan. Its style is interwoven by juxtaposition: East and the West, the new city and the ancient capital, the tradition and the contemporary, the straightforward and the chaotic.
Towering in the row upon row of office buildings on the second ring financial street, the dwelling has a large area of organ curtain hanging inside the corridor glass window curtain with a strong sense of sequence – it’s as if a large piece of Chinese art paper has come alive.
In the 300-square-meter space, the Japanese-style courtyard amassing some 100-square-meter in the southeast corner becomes a comfortable and hidden viewing platform atop the city.
Inside, the space becomes relatively open with sufficient lighting after the non-structural walls are removed. Grey and wood colours are the main palette. The magenta and bright yellow sofas in the reception area are the visual focal points of the space. Filtered by the spatial structure and material, and integrated with the layered landscape, the indoor and outdoor are closely connected to echo each other.
There is a narrow and long corridor after entering the house. The glass screen and blinds soaked by sunlight are set opposite to the sliding door of the tatami room on the right side, where the light and shadow correspond to each other.
The living room and the dining room are separated clearly, the kitchen is incorporated into this area by the large glass partition wall. The entire surface of bright glass curtain wall brings wonderful light to the open functional area where the family’s daily life is gathered.
Photo: Shi Yunfeng
