This part of the research will depict alleyways in hutong as a living room for the residents.

During the research, we observe numerous cases In hutong where residents extend their private life to the alleyways. Air-conditioners, wires and climbing plants extend from individual households. Furniture are pulled out and occu­pied by people on days with pleasant weather. Clothes and bedding are hung on makeshift ropes tied to exterior walls. People here embrace those spaces as their living room, their laundry room, and their nursery. Private and public activi­ties occurs simultaneously, echoing with each other in this in-between space.

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Hutong, as a high-density urban con­text, carries different user groups and functions. Therefore, organizing time and space is extremely important for this project. We design a system of facilities that can be installed and merged into the existing Hutong context. Each of them is like a treasure box that can vary accord­ing to variations of time, user groups, and their uses.

After studied and observed Yansou Street and Shejia Hutong, according to their ex­isting characteristics, we define different functional areas as leisure, culture, learn­ing and community. Various components of the facilities are distributed referring to the defined functional area to attract spe­cific users and fulfill multiple needs.

 

At the same time, we hope to reintroduce young people to the community to change its lack of vitality and diversity. Therefore, our design not only considers the needs of the elderly and children, but also the needs of young people too.