Beijing, China
Xiaomeng Xu with design team Hannah Wang, Zhipeng Liu, and Mingdi Zhou of Domain Architects inaugurate MM Farm Boutique Hotel—a 630-square-meter hospitality complex transformed from an abandoned primary school consisting of four rows of brick and timber frame houses, arranged in a repeated way, and surrounded by high perimeter walls.
“Due to the lease terms and local regulations, any addition, subtraction, or major change to the original structures was not allowed,” says lead architect Xiaomeng Xu.
There are four volumes that comprise the hotel as a hotel arranged in a linear configuration.
While the first house from the south is used as public space and service space, including the reception desk, restaurant, kitchen, and staff housing, the other three houses are used as guest rooms, including six double rooms and five suites.
The site is situated close to Miyun Reservoir, but it is not easy to be aware of the water on the site.
The architects recreated the atmosphere of a waterfront settlement with a system of public paths elevated from the reflection pool, undulating up and down in gentle slopes.
After the hotel started operation, we unexpectedly found that the various heights of the paths encouraged many ways of playing with water for both adults and children.
The only area next to road was transformed into the major entrance.
Thus, the first house from the south is used as public space and service space, including the reception desk, restaurant, kitchen, staff housing, etc.
The other three houses are guest rooms, including six double rooms and five suites.
Every room has a courtyard with complete privacy. Glass vitrines equipped with bath tubs or serving as tea rooms protrude from guestrooms to enable guests to “dive” into the courtyards and experience them in an immersive way.
The original straw roof sheathing was moldy and replaced by wood board. Other than this and some changes of partition and fenestration, the original houses were almost kept intact.
Due to the extensive use of natural materials such as timber and hemp rope, and short-distance suppliers, the carbon footprint of the entire renovation project is estimated to be close to zero.
Renovation is an extremely common situation in today’s commercial activities.
Changes of tenants often result in significant amount of construction waste.
At the end of the lease period, this project will come to a much more environmentally friendly ending: all the steel will be recycled, and the hemp rope will be buried on site and return to dirt.
After helping this project to complete its ephemeral life, all the natural materials we used will also return to their life cycles in natural world.
Project: Beijing MM Farm Hotel
Architects: Domain Architects
Lead Architect: Xiaomeng Xu
Design Team: Hannah Wang, Zhipeng Liu, and Mingdi Zhou
Structural Consultant: AND Office
Landscape Architects: Domain Architects
Photographer: Haiting Sun
