ARCHITECTURE.

Written by Elsa Brown: At the 2006 Venice Biennale, MAD Architects envisioned the future of Beijing with three proposals. One of their visions was the “Future of Hutongs,” a plan for metallic bubble structures that would pop up in hutongs, or narrow alleys, in the city’s oldest neighborhoods. Now, the first of these bubbles has made its debut in a modest, residential courtyard.

Rapid development in Beijing in recent years has been hard for the city to keep up with, and standards of living in older neighborhoods have suffered. MAD’s hutong bubbles address these conditions as small-scale, adaptable interventions that can grow with the fabric of the city and provide new, positive opportunities in struggling areas.

MAD writes: “The hutong bubbles…function like magnets, attracting new people, activities, and resources to reactivate entire neighborhoods… Fueled by the energy they helped to renew, the bubbles multiply and morph to provide for the community’s various needs, thereby allowing local residents to continue living in these old neighborhoods. In time, these interventions will become part of Beijing’s long history, newly formed membranes within the city’s living tissue.”

The first hutong bubble contains a toilet and staircase that connects it to the roof terrace of a newly renovated courtyard house. The design was recently nominated for the Brit Insurance Architecture Award by The Design Museum of London.

ARCH DAILY ON BEIJING BUBBLES
MAD ARCHITECTS
DESIGNS OF THE YEAR

NENDO MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC TOKYO
RECYCLED BIKE RACKS
GREEN WALLS GROW IN PORTLAND

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