- The Renovation of SanZhenBuEr -
SanZhenBuEr(三真不二) is an Inconspicuous garden hidden beside the Dianchi Lake in downtown Kunming. It was built by Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu (王澍) more than ten years ago. People who come here can't help but sigh that "the plants have swallowed up the buildings." When I first went to the site to investigate, I spent a whole day and couldn't finish it - the relationship between building and building, building and plants, building and water is intricate. It's obvious how difficult a task it would be to renovate this masterpiece.
The buildings on the site are basically only completed to the facade stage, and even the interior stairs are not fully constructed. The owner hopes to transform the buildings facing the street on the south into shops for rent, while refurbishing the other buildings into luxury hotels. Our overall strategy for this renovation is to maintain the original cultural essence of the garden and make breakthrough transformations in the form of public space and indoor space based on new functions. In addition, the use of green clay tiles in different shades will also brighten up the originally restrained venue.
We have also reorganized the circulation of the site - adding two "shortcuts" to facilitate guests' arrival; appropriately weakening the connection between the North and South Districts to ensure guests' privacy; shortening the driveway and expanding the pedestrian area; etc.
The renovation work of this project has entered the construction stage. We are all very much looking forward to it being brought back to life with a new look.
