With the rapid development of the new Beijing city, some cultural traditions are gradually being forgotten. When traditional culture is destroyed, the spiritual homeland of humanity will also disappear. We have explored a potential solution—hutong metabolism—which not only preserves traditional architecture but also safeguards the city’s historical culture, lifestyle experiences, and sensory memories. The goal is to retain community living and recreational spaces while adapting to the pace of modern life, allowing both older and younger generations to find joy in communal living.
The project analyzes local cultural environments, community functions, demographic composition, activity schedules, locations, and the interests of different generations, among other social factors. It aims to address issues caused by urbanization, such as residential areas being fragmented by major roads, the reduction of public activity spaces, and generational gaps in cultural exchange due to a lack of shared interests.
To break the barrier posed by street-facing buildings that isolate community activity spaces, we slightly elevated the hutong structures while sinking the ground level. This ultimately creates a new hutong system, which we call the ” Secret Hutongs,” offering a novel interactive space that fosters communication between generations.
Beijing’s urban planning has retained a grid system from its historical layout to the present day. Based on existing structures, we established a new grid plan, subdividing the project area while considering human scale. A new unit module was created, defining hutong dimensions as 1.25 meters, 2.5 meters, and 5 meters. The layout reduces building density at entrances and public spaces while increasing it in the community’s central and private areas. This ensures that people of all ages can coexist, interact, and play together, fostering conditions for mutual exchange.
