Inns by One Take Architects

Designed by Yibenzao Studio, led by architect Li Hao, the Yun Jian boutique guesthouse occupies a 1,000-square-metre 2018 renovation in the Yixing Bamboo Sea, a well-known scenic area in Jiangsu. The setting, however, bears little resemblance to the romantic image of a mountain village: traditional Jiangnan houses have disappeared, replaced by boxy modern rural dwellings crammed onto every homestead. The existing house was typical, with an unusual height-to-width ratio built in an earlier expansion, and a further large addition before the commission left a bulky mass at odds with the village fabric. Rather than forcing an ideal rural model onto the site, the architects worked from the existing conditions, treating the awkward proportions as character. Because the brick-and-concrete structure allowed little spatial change, the stair became the place to create atmosphere: a bookshelf was inserted into the stair shaft, its top and bottom capped with mirrors, so that repeated reflections stretch the stairwell into an apparently endless vertical of books. Window openings, once uniform, are differentiated in size and framing, framing and veiling views to give each room its own mood, while cobblestone, hand-loomed cloth and furniture made from locally salvaged old wood make the apparently similar guest rooms feel distinct. On the outside, locally produced bamboo grilles break the bulky facade into human-scale pieces that soften the pressure on the compact front courtyard, and a continuous boundary wall of moderate height defines territory without hostility; villagers commonly sit on the wall in the sun, turning it into a social edge. Openings at both ends of the wall, offset from the building's non-centred entrance, create an asymmetric approach that lengthens the spatial sequence and lets shade, light and air interweave. The project deliberately refuses to reconstruct a lost traditional village, taking an anti-guesthouse stance as another way of responding honestly to the mixed countryside of wealthy Jiangnan.