Renovation of self-built House in West Island / re-architecture design studioSave this picture! Bian LinRestaurants & Bars, RenovationSanya, ChinaArchitects: re-architecture design studioAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:1200 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Bian LinMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The project is located on a small island called West Island in Sanya. It is a commercial renovation of a self-built residence in a fishing village, with a nearly perfect sea view close to the coastline. Unlike other seashores in Sanya with a strong commercial atmosphere, the current West Island has not yet broken away from the simplicity of the original fishing village. Here, it seems easier to immerse yourself in the sense of natural relaxation brought by the sea. Making good use of sea view resources is the basic commercial concern in this project, but doing so alone is obviously not enough for us to respond the site. We hope to strengthen the emotional value of this place by interacting with the sea.Save this picture!Save this picture!Connect with the seaBecause the project is a renovation of a small house in a natural fishing village, it is very close to the sea, 4 meters only divided by a road. Compared with the regulations in Sanya that new houses must be 300 meters away from the sea, this makes the site of this project particularly precious. Being so close to the sea, we wondered if it is possible to connect our house directly to the sea, at least mentally connected.Save this picture!In order to maximize the sea view, the facade facing the sea is made of glass as much as possible, removing all the unnecessary decorative factors that may interfere. At the same time, the indoor seats are arranged parallel to the sea, so that the customers can enjoy the sea view as much as possible. The ceiling system emphasizes the lines perpendicular to the sea, which is convenient for sorting out the ceiling pipelines while also strengthening the directionality of the space rushing towards the sea.Save this picture!Even more, in order to further strengthen the sense of connection with the sea, the lines of the interior ceiling continue to extend outwards, turning into emerald green grille before they meet with the exterior curtain wall and then continuing to extend until it becomes part of the exterior sunshade eaves. This method not only blurs the perceptual boundary between indoor and outdoor, but also allows the structure of the eaves to penetrate deep into the interior, thereby reducing the diagonal supporting components of the exterior facade, making the eaves purer and lighter.Save this picture!Deep eaves and new materialAt the beginning of the project, a grid-shaped emerald green fiberglass grille just randomly appeared in our material library. At first, we didn't know what to do with it, but we knew that this material had an inexplicable fit with the site. This new material matches perfectly with the green coconut trees, the blue sky and the transparent sea in Sanya. In addition, this material itself has a slightly rough texture and super weather resistance, which can be integrated into the mottled natural life of the island in the fishing village. No matter what the weather conditions are, to some extent, the emerald green eaves and the turquoise sea of Sanya blend together as a whole. It is like you can walk into the sea at any time in front of the window.Save this picture!Along the way up to Choice CThis project is a renovation of a three-story building, which contains two stores: the first and second floors are seafood hot pot restaurants, and the third floor and roof terrace are used as dining and bar spaces. These two stores are operated independently. Therefore, the first step of the renovation is to consider how to organise the two flows so that they are independent without any conflict. This inevitably requires adding a new vertical circulation bypassing the first and second levels and directly leading to the third floor.Save this picture!We have always believed that for the restaurant and bar in this house, the commercial area needs to be simple and calm, so that people can enjoy the sea and fully relaxed. The circulation space for entry needs to be overdrawn, so we abandoned the original stairwell that runs up and down in the room. Instead, we added an external staircase on the other side of the building, connecting the second-floor terrace and the third-floor bar; and then added a straight staircase running towards the sea on the second-floor terrace, connecting to the ground. In this way, we have two vertical circulation spaces with different feelings: one is perpendicular to the sea, with a net width of 2 meters, which is not only the main flow route before entering the bar, but also provides a public three-dimensional area for tourists to take photos; the other external steel frame staircase, wrapped in semi-transparent frosted U-shaped glass, forms a blurred alienation effect with the environment, and also provides a psychological preparation process for guests before entering the bar.Save this picture!In addition, the roof of the bar is also the place where we made the most changes. Since the net height of the original third floor space was low, we removed the original roof and raised it up by one meter. At the same time, we realized that if this large area of the roof terrace was only one height, it would be a waste of the sea view resources, so we set three heights on the roof to allow the back row of space also having unobstructed sea view. The steel frame staircase wrapped in U-shaped glass leads directly to the roof and forms a whole scene with the rooftop bar. In the evening, this semi-transparent glass volume receives the sunset behind it, adding a romantic atmosphere to the entire venue, and also setting off the light effects for the bar space that about to open in the evening.Save this picture!The two attributes of the project and the temperament it finally presentedWest Island in Sanya is the largest aboriginal tourist island in Hainan province. It not only has the same beautiful sea view resources like other places in Sanya, but also has a large number of local fishermen living here. A prominent feature mixed with exquisite tourism needs and cozy fishermen's lives is exactly a unique quality that we hope to capture and present in this project. Therefore, we do not pursue pure cleanliness in design, but allow the sea breeze to leave traces of nature, and also allow traces of fishing villages such as art works of shipboard, graffiti and lighthouse sculpture to appear along with the building.Save this picture!When the construction was in its early stage, as designers, we naturally hoped that the project could be presented in an exquisite manner, because its customers were tourists from big cities. However, during the construction process, we found that it was basically impossible to accurately control the project, even with the full-cycle following service of site designers. Because this project was also a self-built house renovation in the village, the workers were mostly from local. Like other rural construction projects, the standard required to lay out lines, make proofs, and schedule production in a planned manner, which could be easily achieved in the city, were encountered great resistance here. Coupled with the unstable climate at the seaside and problems such as island transportation, we had to follow up on the mistakes of construction and adjust the design with progress.Save this picture!We were about to collapse, but one day we suddenly found that the final state of the project, the mottled and uneven lines washed by the sea wind and rain, was actually in harmony with the surrounding environment. This coincidence happenly match the quality of the cozy island life that we originally pursued. Probably, an overly refined project would be a bit abrupt in this place. Perhaps this state of having a sense of isolation and also being accepted by the environment has created the special temperament of this project.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Port Xiaoqigang West Island, Sanyan, Hainan, ChinaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officePublished on December 23, 2024Cite: "Renovation of self-built House in West Island / re-architecture design studio" 23 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1024818/renovation-of-self-built-house-in-west-island-re-architecture-design-studio&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save? / You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream