Micro Yuan'er Children's Library and Art Centre

The Micro Yuan'er Children's Library and Art Centre is located in the heart of Beijing, China.^[1] Located in the hundreds-year-old Cha'er hutong, a Chinese courtyard, surrounded by family homes,^[2] the award-winning structure is recognized for its blend of old and new architecture.

Funded by the municipal government,^[3]  the building is part of an urban development program^[3]  to enhance the lives of residents while preserving hutong history.  

Micro Hutong Renewal[]

Zhang Ke of ZAO/standard architecture in Beijing designed the children's library and art centre as part of a hutong renewal project.^[3][4] Ke has a Master of Architecture from Harvard and is credited with bringing Ivy League design to the hutongs.^[5] The architect believes it is good for the municipality to use small-scale construction as part of urban development.^[6]

Located about one kilometre from Tiananmen Square and near a major mosque, the Cha'er hutong measures 350 square metres.^[7] It was a typical Da-Za-Yuan, which means big, messy courtyard,^[8] where up to a dozen families had lived for about 400 years.^[7] The hutong contained a temple that was turned into residences in the 1950s.^[9] The municipal government's Dashilar Investment^[3] requested proposals for how to use the space, choosing a children's library.^[6]  The project's construction took place between 2012 and 2014.^[9]

Since the 1950s, most families living there had added on a small kitchen in the courtyard.^[10] Although most recent renovations eliminate add-on structures like these, the architects redesigned, renovated, and reused the remaining structures to create the library and art spaces,^[3] preserving this oft-neglected layer of Beijing's contemporary civil history.^[11]

The builders constructed the 9 metre square library beneath the pitched roof of another building in the courtyard.^[3] It is made of plywood^[2] and concrete mixed with Chinese ink^[11] to blend with its grey urban surroundings.^[12] Steps inside the building create an elevated reading area in front of a wide window, encouraging children to climb up and read a book.^[8] Builders also transformed a former kitchen beneath a large Chinese scholar tree into a six-metre square micro art space^[11] using recycled bricks.^[6]

In 2016, the Hutong Children's Library and Art Centre project received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, one of six winners worldwide.^[13] The award jury praised the project for its modification and re-use of a historic building and its embodiment of life in traditional courtyard residences.^[3] The hutong renewal project appeared at Beijing Design Week 2014 and the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016.^[5] CNN called the architect a "game changer in Chinese design" for his various courtyard projects.^[5]

Facilities[]

The building contains a children's library and an elevated reading nook where children can read in front of a picture window.^[3] There is a miniature art space nearby.^[11] In one room, an artist may show children how to create paper cut art while a multifunction space is suitable for showing movies.^[6] A large, hundreds-year-old scholar tree at the site provides a place for children to play.^[12]

Social Impact[]

Local residents see the hutong renewal project as good for the community as the area was transformed from piles of rubbish to a place where children come to play and learn.^[6] Hutong life revived through this project and enriched community bonds.^[7] The project helped preserve historic buildings^[3] instead of leveling the area for large-scale construction, bridging the gap between modern development and tradition.^[5] Hutong renewal helps keep families in the community where they have lived possibly for hundreds of years instead of relocating to distant apartment towers, preserving their community bonds.^[6]

References[]