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The site located in the central part of Beijing. People still rent or own Siheyuan, a historical type of residence common in China however the activities that occur in Langman Hutong are rather scarce. Our intention was to move people out of their houses to the streets and alleys. We began with the redesign of a new door wall for the store, which is in the center of Langman Hutong. The new wall created a semi-private space for the store and allowed people to see through the Hutong. In China, people always raised their own pigeons; however this tradition is almost extinct today. We brought this element back to our design and used the wood structure to hold an enclosure for the nest of the pigeons. The original masonry wall was made of brick with dimensions of 75 x 300 x 200 mm. We utilized these dimensions to size components of wood and steel that would be used to construct our new wall. We emphasized the vertical construction line of Hutong while the horizontal lines have been deemphasized. In this case, people are able to view the activities within the wall when they are nearby, but when people walk away, the wall would be a traditional wall that divides two spaces and stops the sightline. By taking advantage of people’s inherent curiosities, this design enhances the communication between people on either side of the wall.
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