Meizhuang Boutique Hotel

Meizhuang Homestay is located inside the ancient Yanzhou prefectural city of Meicheng, on the west side of the central axis South Street, immediately next to Chengqing Gate; to the south, beyond the old gate, a river opens where the Xin'an, Fuchun and Lan rivers meet. Meicheng was the seat of the ancient Yanzhou prefecture and has more than seventeen hundred years of history; the design work therefore required not only understanding and respect for the old town's natural and cultural background, but also consideration of the masterplan for Meicheng as a whole, so that the building fits cleverly into the larger environment. The unique location, together with the era demand for old-town renewal, pushes the team beyond mere functional compliance toward new experiments. The two seemingly similar imitation-antique buildings are in fact composed of four structures built in three different historical periods with very different structural types; the progression of eras is written into the group of houses, and the design philosophy is historical layering expressed as harmony in difference. After research, and because the original group already mixes eras, the team decides to preserve as much of the existing building's original information as possible while adding contemporary reflections, on the basis of functional and structural safety. This approach may offer later practitioners a way of thinking about gradual historical layering: architecture is silent, but it speaks through space, material and structure, and the renovation of Meizwich lets the old and new voices hold one another in a single conversation.