min + taeubert revitalize farmer's cottage near great wall of china

min + taeubert revitalize farmer’s cottage near great wall of china
photo © christian taeubert
all images courtesy of sun min and christian taeubert

since 2005, google earth has represented and revealed information about the world in a revolutionary way. consequently, artists and designers alike have gathered its data to produce postcards, textiles, and photographs. using this technology, sun min and christian taeubert discovered a farmer’s cottage near beijing, perched on the foothills of jiankou at the great wall of china. it had been built by a local farmer in the 1970’s, but had been abandoned for the past 10 years. the son of the farmer, who still resides in the town, agreed to rent out his property to them for the duration of 10 years. this drove the architects to renovate the building and return it to its prosperity.

(left) east wing hallway
(right) west wing hallway
photo © christian taeubert

after having stripped the cottage down to its bare and rural structure, an entirely new program had been inserted by placing functional brick boxes in between the original timber beam grid, avoiding any kind of interfaces with the remains of the original building. traditionally, this type of house is subdivided into three rooms with floor-to-roof clay partitions. by demolishing the interior walls, one large room was developed from the corridors facing the façade as well as from the living room area. traces of the existing central cooking area remain visible in the timber ceiling, which is stained black from the smoke of the former kitchen stove. ‘no finishes of any sort were applied to the existing brickwork as well as all of the new additions to the building, except for some reclaimed wood cladding, keeping the interiors as ‘bare’ as possible,’ said the designers.

kitchen and dining area feature a reclaimed steel counter-top
photo © christian taeubert

two volumes with large DGU glass doors are located at both ends of the house to provide views of the garden. the beds within them are a modification of a traditional chinese ‘kang’, which is a sleeping platform made of brick with a thick clay topping. its interior cavity, leading to a flue, channels the exhaust from a wood fireplace. while the kitchen stove usually fuels the kang, the fireplace has been manipulated and placed in the exterior side walls below an insulated concrete ceiling so that the heat can be maintained from the outside. while it might take several hours to reach the desired surface temperature, once raised to sufficient amount, the bed remains warm throughout the night without the need to continuously produce an energy source. in addition, fully glazed floor to ceiling doors blur the boundaries between interior and exterior, especially in the summer time when they are kept open during the day, creating enough air circulation to keep the house comfortably cool without the need for additional cooling.

bedroom cubicle
photo © christian taeubert

the windows are conceived as a piece of inserted furniture rather than just a façade enclosure. their deep frames block unwanted views into the house from the oblique street angle while providing nicely scenic moments towards the landscape. the simple material palette that decorates the entire atmosphere consists of reclaimed wood, locally harvested timber, reclaimed steel for all counter-tops, brick, precast wash basins, precast concrete pillars for the ceilings, and second hand furniture pieces.

views of the garden with a hammock displaying a part of the rug collection
photo © christian taeubert

terrace with outdoor dining table
photo © christian taeubert

reflections of the surroundings
photo © christian taeubert

solid timber windows with vase collection
photo © christian taeubert

snap shot during the renovation
photo © christian taeubert

project info:

project name: farmer’s cottage at the great wall of china
architects: sun min and christian taeubert
special thanks: felix jeschke
photography: christian taeubert

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.