Xiezuo Hutong Capsule Hotel in Beijing

The project is located in the core old city of Beijing's second eastern ring road, near the Duan Qirui Executive Mansion on Zhangzizhong Road, where ancient charm and modern characterively intersect. The inn is formed by connecting two courtyards; entering through a vermilion Chinese gate, the reception desk is on the left and an indoor audio-visual reading area on the right. The reading area faces the poplar-fronted courtyard, whose screen wall conceals glass blocks that bring soft light into the rooms. At dusk, warm yellow light glows through the glass blocks, forming a matrix of modern light and shadow. The passage on the east side of the front courtyard is a shared corridor for resting; this public corridor extends the city and hutong street into a new semi-outdoor-street space, where gray brick and public furniture become a bridge to the past and turn the capsule space into a true home. The corridor runs through front and rear courtyards, using floor-to-ceiling glazing to frame courtyard views without fully separating them; walking the long corridor feels like wandering a long hutong, where strange travelers, guests, and neighbors unconsciously stop to meet and converse. Books, as a fluid medium, together with public furniture, guide a distinctive exchange. The courtyard is the dwelling pleasure of the siheyuan. Following the corridor to the rear courtyard, a landscaped space enclosed by gray brick sits in the east corner. Passing through the rear courtyard, stairs on the south side lead to the second floor. The second-floor terrace is formed by the roof of the first-floor corridor, creating the quintessential Beijing hutong experience of sitting among tiles and treetops: hearing cicadas in summer and watching snow on dark tiles in winter. The project occupies two floors on a 1,300-square-meter site, with 1,150 square meters of floor area.