A traditional housing form from China called siheyuan; without direct translation, it means something like ‘courtyard house’. It was most common in the north, in and around Beijing but was developed into a typology for many building uses, not just residential. It is a cluster of buildings around several courtyards always with north to the […]
This southern Chinese traditional house form is a circular protected village encompassed by a rammed earth wall normally 2, 3 or 4 storeys high with many families; in fact, the whole village living within. At some sites, these Hakka’s are in groups suggesting that, as the village population grows, new Hakka’s are built. Being fundamentally […]
An exploration of the strength of enclosure vs. the looseness of puplic squares and piazzas. Starting with very simple shapes, we explore the expression of character and enclosure by changing the position of entry into the square and then distorting the form. With small alterations, a formal authoritarian space quickly becomes one which feels humanised, […]
Communities focus themselves around piazzas which is why, on arriving at a new town or city, visitors gravitate towards such spaces, Traflagar Square, St Mark’s Square, Placa de Catalunya, Alexanderplatz etc. This is a study of the forms of several minor squares or piazzas from around the world. Note that most have an informal shape […]
