PIG Design's Studio, Hangzhou

PIG HOUSE, the office of PIG DESIGN, is located in an old residential area in Binjiang, Hangzhou. It adjoins the bank of Qiantang River, and faces the West Lake across the river. In order to break away from traditional office buildings’ indifference to the local environment and lack of cultural significance, Li Wenqiang decided to transform a detached old house into PIG DESIGN’s studio.

The original building was built more than twenty-three years ago. The traces of the 1990s on its facades and layout, which appear “outdated”, cannot be easily erased. The design intervenes in a simplistic and sustainable manner by maintaining the original state of the main structure without much alteration, only inserting several floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the facade, so as to blur the boundary between inside and outside and connect the architecture, space and landscape.

The project occupies a land area of one mu (about 666 m²), with a total interior area of around 250 m². It took one year from design conception to completion. Adhering to a practical functional layout, the building only went through minor modifications, while the much larger outdoor courtyard is the most demanding part of the project. The entrance to the courtyard is modest in scale, and the 900mm-wide gate conceals a secluded atmosphere. PIG DESIGN’s signature sense of humor is incorporated into the design: the odd-shaped entrance resembles a “piglet” in its compositional relationship with the building, while the roof arranged with cheap black PVC pipes looks like its hairstyle.

Photography Credits – Qi Shuoqian