PLY HOUSE is a architecturally ambitious endeavor to mitigate between the client’s love for Chinese culture and modern architecture, the diverse lifestyle rituals for a large family unit, and the challenges and multiplicity of a 40-year old west-facing residential building which stems from basement to attic.
The architectural gesture is simple, yet technically challenging. The external façade has been envisioned as an ultra-modern architectural shell, formed with century-old antique clay bricks reclaimed from vernacular Chinese Hutongs – its gravitas and physical weight lifted completely off the ground to create a wall-less living space on the ground, and forming a shield from the harsh external environment for the spaces above.
The interior spaces within are more dramatically varied, taking immediate cues from the inherent qualities of spaces situated beneath the ground, on the ground, and above the ground. In essence, a vertical stack of diverse spatial environments, each plied unto the other.