The project is an old residence located in the northern part of Haidian, overlooking the rolling mountains to the north. Limited space, lack of storage, and inadequate foyer are all practical problems that must be addressed. During the initial communication, family members expressed nostalgia for living in a large apartment before coming to Beijing, so the higher-level goal of the renovation is to achieve the ideal of making a small home feel spacious.
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Silver 🏆 Winner
International Interior Design Awards 2023
Borrow Light From A Wall
Residential Interior Built
Firm
Shuǐ Xíng Design
Designer
Hang Wang
Design Team
Hang Wang, Qi Luo, Jiangchun Xia
Location
Beijing, China
Country
China
Photographer/Copyright
©Zenglei Chi
Inspiration from the Lingering Garden
The first strategy for making a small house feel larger was inspired by the isomorphism relationship of the Lingering Garden to create the planar layout between the entrance corridor and the living room. By contrasting spaces to create a sense of expansiveness, the entrance corridor was outfitted with storage cabinets and an arched ceiling to further compress the width and height of the already narrow space. The brightness of the corridor was also moderately reduced to create a cave-like experience, which contrasted with the bright and spacious living room at the end. This comparision between low and high, small and large, and dark and light made the living room space, as the core of the home, feel more spacious.
“Borrowing light by chiseling a hole in the wall”
“Borrowing light” is not the purpose of “chiseling walls”. Scenery is often brought by light. Only with light can there be scenery, and only with limited space can there be infinite imagination. The ribbed glass door, arches, high windows, and exterior windows together form a rich hole system, like exquisite Taihu stones. The “scenery inside the cave” shrouded in shadows makes the living room and washing space profound, ambiguous, and interesting.
Making room for more space
The arrangement principle of furniture is very clear: in the horizontal dimension, bookcases, wardrobes, card seats, and all furniture are arranged around the room and attached to the walls; in the vertical dimension, the cabinets are maximized to cover the wall surface, which not only provides sufficient storage capacity, but also maximizes the available floor space, providing more possibilities for future life.
Control lines
To create a cohesive overall feeling and improve the fragmented appearance caused by multiple doors and windows, control lines were introduced and extended into other areas of the home to unify the space, promoting a sense of harmony throughout the home..