白塔寺胡同美术馆

Location: Baitasi, Beijing

Completion: 2017

建筑性质

项目位于北京市西城区白塔寺文化保护区内，临近鲁迅博物馆。原建筑功能以居住为主，我们将其改造为包括艺术家起居、工作室、公共展厅等场所的艺术空间。

自然界入

在保留原建筑主要结构的基础上，将其划分为南侧艺术家生活区和北侧公共展区两个部分，并根据场地肌理和环境，植入两个室外院落，承载自然光影。在室内空间中，留出部分边角缝隙，使光线渗入，并在地面做绿化与之呼应，成为竖向拉伸的自然角落。

空间分布

在南侧艺术家起居部分，以置入功能盒子的方式，形成一层的书房、餐厨沙龙空间和二层的卧室，满足居住的需求。同时二层延伸至北侧一间艺术家工作室。北侧其余部分，则是开放的公共展厅，楼板打通，空间高度起落，并连接两个室外庭院。室内主要墙体向上延伸至屋顶，成为屋顶花园的田埂。屋面边界结合边角缝隙的秩序，以透明玻璃的形式围合出整个屋顶公共区域。

建筑表达

白塔寺承载着深厚的历史文化，项目中的弧形语言和白色纹理，向胡同中延伸了白塔的印象。屋顶花园的植物棚架，则反映了胡同里的生活气氛。在历史文化和环境现状的影响下，这里将成为一个胡同展场，实现片区的有机更新。

Over 700 hundreds years ago, a 50 meters-tall giant white Pagoda with its Nepal Buddhist temple – Baitasi - was built in ancient Beijing. Ever since then this temple and pagoda have merged into the surrounding hutongs and courtyards living with religious ceremonies and activities and eventually became part of the historical context for contemporary Beijing.

This giant white volume brings dynamic magnetism into the typical hutong fabric and courtyard life and is the most important context in our design for converting a 2-story cement residential building into a hutong gallery in the Baitasi area.

Most of the cement residential buildings in this area were built after 1980s, when some local residents tore down courtyards to larger living area and a modern lifestyle. Cement block buildings have become a common typology with a larger scale than courtyards in hutong fabric. A conversion from residential into a public program including a gallery and three artist residencies will host community exhibitions and facilitate artists living and working in Baitasi hutong area, introduce new elements to integrate with local community, and bring a new transforming process into the region.

Under the hutong preservation regulations, the building volume will remain intact, the original structure and layout will be reorganized to fit in new programs that include a double height gallery facing north, a salon and office on ground level and artist rooms above. In order to achieve sufficient light quality, a system of vertical voids is inserted into this dense block. Two corner yards are brought back for light and air, open to the sky and neighbor’s tree canopy, as well as reintroducing traditional the courtyard context. Skylights peeling off from the roof or floor corners are another light strategy. Both corner yards and skylights are articulated with curve segments, indicating a continuous circulation. This is also a reflection of the experience when walking in the Baitasi hutong area. The visual of the pagoda is cut on and off by hutong scale and orientation. The curve fragments of form and light in this white interior bring the memory of pagoda into the dark grey cement block. The rooftop is open up as a public platform with a plant pavilion configured from vertical voids. The articulation of the plant pavilion will add in another layer into hutong skyline of cables and tree canopies.

The building is a connection of historical context with future programs, and will provide new possibilities into the hutong community life.