HUTONG WINDOW By Justin Wallace, Urban Designer & Architect
HUTONG WINDOW Studio | Alley Tucked deep at the end of a tiny passageway, nestled between a line of shops and a residential party wall, seemingly lost among the complexity of the Hutongs, sits a small one-story structure where a photographer has made his studio work space. I did not see his shop at first while walking Nan Luo Gu Xiang (the main arterial way through one of Beijing’s traditional hutong blocks). The exchange of activity between the street and the open storefront windows distract from the passive alley ways that recede into the nooks between the many shops. The entrance to his studio hinged off a meter wide alley way that jogged behind one of the storefront shops off the main arterial street. The alley was just wide enough for sunlight to wash the faces of the walls and windows. It was a small sign that caught my eye – not because of what was
Photographer’s Slide in Studio Window
written on it, but because it was hanging by one screw and had fallen to one side. I stepped off the
student and, with an excited gesture of his hand in
main way into the alley which was littered with an
my direction, he immediately went digging through
array of people’s belongings. I kept walking, turned
boxes that were hidden beneath a curtain hanging
a sharp right behind a shop, and stood facing a dead-
from one of the tables in the room. He pulled out a
end corridor lined with doors and windows. It was
box with some fifty photo slides arranged in a row.
here I discovered the photographer’s studio to my
He pulled out one in front of me and motioned for
left and I found him sitting on a stool surrounded
me to hold it up to the window at the back of his
by his work hanging from the walls. The interior
studio space. I took the slide from him, walked to
was a small space – roughly 60 square meters - with
the open clerestory window in the back of his studio,
windows on opposing sides of the room. Outside
and examined the contents of the slide. With the aid
the window across the room from the entrance was
of the light, I could see that they were original films
an even smaller alleyway where the backs of the
of photographs taken by an architecture professor
building met the back of a building on the parallel
from one of the local universities. Each one, when
street. After a brief exchange muddled by a language
illuminated, revealed a miniature narrative about
barrier, I managed to tell him I was an architecture
a building that I knew nothing about. I could only
Main Lane
Alley
Light Well
Unique Storefront #ONlGURATIONS
Cafe
Studio Window
Commercial Storefront
Photography Studio 1.25m 1.25m
Residence 1m
Sketch of Window Conditions along Main Lane and Alley
Hutong
Courtyard
Clerestory Window
Courtyard Window
Residence
2.2m
Refurbished Siheyuan
4.75m
Refurbished Siheyuan
1.94m 3.85m 1.26m
5m
Sketch of Window Conditions in Refurbished Siheyuan
read so much within the tiny frames: one contained
to the photographer. He could tell I was pleased with
a building with traditional eaves constructed out of
the contents of the slides, but the architect in me was
wood; another contained a modern-era structure
even more pleased with his occupation in the limited
poured with concrete; a third frame showed a
studio space we were standing in. As the light shined
religious shrine with colorful markings over its door.
in through the window to give life to the photograph
I read one after another using the window as a light
stills, so does the artist give life to the emptiness and
source. Upon the satisfaction of examining enough
void of space.
slides on Chinese architecture, I gave a handful back
Siheyuan | Courtyard The doors were propped open and a refrigerator stocked with various labels of beer greeted me at an entrance to a siheyuan - one of the many courtyard buildings lining the Yu’er hutong.
Most of the
siheyuans appeared to be privately owned except this one which was clearly welcoming to guests. I stepped up onto the threshold and, upon grabbing a cold beer to beat the hot sun, peered into the space. Just past the entrance way, I saw a sunken courtyard some 5 meters in width that was surrounded by rooms on all four sides. The exterior walls of each room fronted the interior courtyard space. Each wall contained expansive windows 2 meters in height stretching from one end of the wall to the other. Above the windows roughly 4 meters above the courtyard, eaves swooped in from all directions, casting shadows onto the pavers below. From across the courtyard, a small, young, apron-donned woman poked her head from behind a wooden door. She greeted me and I paid for my beverage. I was invited in and so I followed her through a sliding door into one of the rooms – a tearoom - off of the courtyard. She lightly explained the traditional ritual and staging of tea. I could not help but notice that the lights were turned off but that it was very bright in the room because of a flood of natural light coming in from the enormous windows. If size were any indication of importance, the focus then would be towards the courtyard. The enormity of the windows created the illusion of one giant room instead of several. In contrast, the windows along the outer perimeter of the siheyuan were much smaller and located much higher so that there is little focus in their direction. Therefore attention is fixed inward. From out the courtyard window, I could see a persimmon tree and a pomegranate tree posed against a backdrop of red painted walls with a lone birdcage
Windows in Courtyard of Refurbished Siheyuan resting in the branches.
Beyond the courtyard, I
could see through the window of the opposing room, where a group of people were stretching and doing various poses of their own. The remodeled siheyuan had been converted into class rooms to be used for conferences and the like.
The woman informed
me that a yoga instructor and a music teacher were currently using the rooms.
Indeed, I could hear
through the rear room a man practicing his violin. The configuration of openings and organization of rooms in the refurbished siheyuan gave me a sense that we were all sharing a common experience of peering through a window into the past. We were temporarily sharing one large room - myself with my beer, the yoga instructor and his students, the violin player, and poised in the center, the bird in its cage.
Cafe | Storefront It is clear that the storefront window defines the vicissitude of the Beijing Hutong, and that isn’t such a bad thing. Every window is different. Not a single dimension of width or height sets a standard among the playful diversity of type scattering the fronts of buildings along the main lane. Instead, each window projects a uniqueness that adds to a collective ambience into the street. Each frame is an opportunity of exchange between the viewer and what is being viewed from either side of the window. A diner at the Passer-By Café – which could be any café – sits at a table overlooking a corner intersection of Nan Luo Gu Xiang and Banchang Hutong. The window sections out into the street so that the dining experience syncs with the steady pulse of sounds, objects, lights and people passing by just one meter’s
Vermillion-painted window in Cafe
distance from the plate of food in front of the diner. Meanwhile, a bicyclist pedaling down the lane pauses
As I turn on my laptop and sync my smart phone, I
upon the smell of food from an open window that has
question whether the window next to me may bear
heightened the senses. From the biker’s viewpoint,
witness to or accommodate the inevitability of change.
he is able to peer deep into the cafe to the furthest wall
Current conditions indicate varying answers.
of the space. Such exchanges happen serendipitously
makeshift window of an infill building that has been
given the multitude of opportunities along the lane.
transformed into an artist’s studio gives meaning
Fifty to seventy-five percent of the faces of buildings
to the working urban layers within the hutong.
fronting the main lane are made up of a collage of
Meanwhile, a courtyard window in a renovated
picture windows, take-out counters, or storefront
siheyuan maintains our focus on the meaning of the
openings. Each eatery, boutique, or inn provides
past. And yet, there is an interesting flux of window
their own framing of the street through asymmetric
configurations found in the commercial storefronts
frames and various window configurations. Most
that give a minor indication of the past, that perhaps
are made up of single panes and wooden frames that
hint at an unclear foretelling of a future, but that
have been painted with hues of vermillion which
mainly emphasize the transient ebb and flow of the
emanate warmth and energy that is similarly felt
present. What is evident is that the windows provide
in the windows of the traditional styles of building
a constant interaction between the viewer and that
found in Beijing. There is a sense of vitality that
which is being viewed. They nurture the steady pulse
is found in the brushstrokes of paint seen on the
of energy between interior and exterior, capturing
headers and sills paired with the wear of time from
the essence of the hutong within their frames.
many people’s handling over the years.
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