MAD announced its Beijing old city renovation project "Hutong Bubble No. 218". MAD restored and renovated a late Qing Dynasty courtyard house located in the eastern Qianmen District of Beijing. While restoring the original three-entry layout of the courtyard house, it creatively added three "bubbles" of different shapes that looked like alien objects. Art touches the community, creating a new dialogue space between the new and the old, the tradition and the future in the old city.

▲Layering of linear history: Zhengyangmen, Xianyukou in the east of Qianmen, modern buildings, and surreal "bubbles"▲

In 2006, MAD proposed a vision of the future of Beijing at the Venice Architecture Biennale - "Beijing 2050". The "Hutong Bubble" proposal proposed that the renovation of the old city does not necessarily require demolition and reconstruction, but by adding "bubbles" that transcend time and space, it can update community living conditions and activate neighborhood relations like a magnet.

Ma Yansong said: "This is a "micro-utopia" ideal. I hope these "bubbles" will have vitality like new cells, give old buildings a kind of vitality, and achieve the recovery of the entire community by changing the local part."

In 2009, MAD’s first “Hutong Bubble” became a reality at No. 32 Beibingmasi Hutong; ten years later, in 2019, “Hutong Bubble No. 218” was completed.

The restoration and renovation of No. 218 West Damuchang Street originated from the old city renewal research project "South City Plan - Qianmen East District 2014" jointly sponsored by Tianjie Group, Tianan Time Contemporary Art Center and Beijing Institute of Architectural Design in 2014. In this research project, MAD proposed four principles for the old city renewal planning: no change, more density, acupuncture and spirit. Later, No. 218 became the test site for this research.

The courtyard is located on the south side of the west section of West Damuchang Street in Qianmen East District, covering an area of ​​469 square meters, facing south and north, and is a late Qing Dynasty building. Over the past 100 years, the building has changed from a foreign hospital in its original history to a large courtyard where more than 20 households lived before the renovation. The courtyard has experienced multiple additions and reconstructions in different historical periods, and the original pattern of the courtyard has become very vague. In modern times, due to the gradual decline of the living conditions of the courtyard, most of the original residents have moved away, and the courtyard has gradually lost the original vitality of the historical courtyard.

【Acupuncture】

MAD added three bubbles made of polished stainless steel in the courtyard. One of them is an independent reception room/shared workspace; the other one, in addition to the functions of reception and shared space, also allows people to freely shuttle between the first and second floors through the spiral staircase inside the "bubble".

【No Change】

Street facade: The quaint temperament of the old Beijing courtyard must be displayed through gray walls and gray tiles, so MAD retained the original color tone of the street facade. The window of the entrance facade was adjusted to a single transparent glass, thereby increasing the lighting area, giving the building a modern atmosphere in its quaintness.

Second courtyard: The inner courtyard removed the later additions and constructions in the courtyard, and restored the original layout and space.

Third courtyard: The courtyard has decorative wood carvings that are unique to European courtyards during the Qing Dynasty. MAD removed the surface stains of the wood carvings that can be retained and restored their luster. The ones that cannot be retained were remade with the same size and pattern, and finally restored this facade feature. The doors and windows restored the original wooden lattice fans, retaining the original patterns and opening methods, and using a combination of wood and windows to form an open facade. The solid wall part also uses water-brushed stone facades, and the overall restoration of the original facade's simple style.

Lao She once said, “The beauty of old Beijing lies in the ‘space’ between buildings.” In Beijing’s old city renovation, how to allow this “space” to continue to develop freely, while revitalizing the community from a functional and spiritual level in an artistic way, will be the direction that MAD will continue to study and experiment with in its old city renovation.

Hutong Bubble No. 218
Beijing, China
2015-2019
Type: Siheyuan Renovation
Site Area: 469 sqm
Building Area: 305.1 sqm

Architects in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Design Team: He Wei, Li Yuanhao, Shang Li, Fu Changrui, Wang Tao, Dmitry Seregen, Cesar D. Rey

Owner: Tianjie Group
Grade A Design Institute: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design EA4
Constructor: Beijing Dalong Construction Group Co., Ltd. First Ancient Building Engineering Office
User: "Polishing Field" Urban Renewal Project

*Photographer: Tian Fangfang, MAD