Grinding Factory 5Lmeet

The project is located in the Hutong of the Beijing West Grinding Factory, a small courtyard originally known as Ruihua Dyestuff in the Republic of China. This project is designed to transform the historic traditional courtyard into an attractive long-term rental apartment in Beijing.

The apartment is connected by three yards, with the entrance made of an arched wooden gate leading into the courtyard, which is divided into the front reception area on the left and the central kitchen on the right. The kitchen faces the ancient trees in the courtyard. These ancient trees are deliberately kept out of the plane layout in order to keep the them intact in the courtyard, and the kitchen is separated from the courtyard with the curved glass curtain wall.

Walking along down the reception area, one could find a dining room and a bar. The dining room is a flexible space that can be used either as the dining area of the apartment’s residents or a public place for gatherings.

Rose-gold metal plates are used in reception, central kitchen, dining room and bar and the building’s original brick walls are retained in these public spaces, making the cool, smooth, golden metal plates stand in stark contrast to the shabby, rough, gray old brick wall. This is indeed the collision between the new and old.

The long and narrow corridor on the west leads to the guest rooms. There are five or six guest rooms divided based on the original architectural structure of the building. The transparency of the glass means that it will neither block the much-desired sunshine nor impair the original look of the building, creating a visually and spatially balance in relation to the old building. Therefore, the extended part of the whole yard is built in the form of a glass box. With light flittering through and light and people moving around in it, the entire space is full of vitality. When sunlight pours through the transparent glass into the apartment, it brings warmth and energy to everything in the apartment.