The project is located in the historic neighbourhood of Baita Temple as one of the pilot project for the Baitasi Renovation Project. Our client’s wish was to reunite the two neighbouring courtyards and transform them into a modern office, which would include meeting rooms, open spaces, leisure areas and a lecture room.

The site is rather challenging as the two existing buildings have distinctive features and architectural styles: the first building on the west courtyard (171 square meters) formerly used as paper factory is made of brick walls with a flat roof whereas the second building on the east courtyard (98 square meters) is a more recently built shelter with traditional wooden structure and sloping ceramic roof.

Our main goal was to design a coherent space where the specific nature of the two existing buildings would blend resulting in a homogeneous spatial experience with only few moments of contrast. The intervention takes the shape of a white loop that joints together two buildings with different materials and structural systems.

The loop unfolds both horizontally and vertically becoming the dynamic framework-structure of the scheme. The loop is twisted in a two-ring structure extended over the two courtyards, taking the shape of stairs, ramps, balustrades, mezzanine and roof terraces; the loop not only provides the required connections of all added spaces but also transforms two unused and oddly proportioned courtyards into a single space. Its abstract, materially neutral nature makes it an element of mediation that redefines the dialogue between the old and the new.

In order to make the best out of the relatively small footprint of the site, a traditional and rigid office partition system was replaced by a more dynamic open plan with blurred boundaries where work, group activities, casual conversations and other gatherings take place in a seamless way. By using materials such as glass, metal mesh and other perforated steel plates with different levels of opacity, a series of subtle demarcations between private and public areas are made possible even in such limited conditions.

The two originally divided courtyards are programmatically interlaced by series of functional areas scattered on different levels (semi-recessed into the ground, at existing level and at a new second floor) with the existing rooftop transformed into an accessible platform where one can enjoy the quiet flow of people and whispers of this ancient alleys.