The project imagines a multigenerational house situated on the rural mountain of Luoyang in central China. Whilst it has become popular for rural populations to move into urban areas for economic purposes, there is a recent trend that sees urban dwellers leaving the city in search of a different lifestyle, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. There is more space in the countryside and the recent pandemic has made it more acceptable to work from home.

The proposal is an autobiographical house for four generations of the He family. Constructed from fictional narratives and the author’s personal experiences, the spaces explore the relationships between different family groups around the idea of a traditional Chinese courtyard culture.

The region is famed for its craftsmanship in woodwork. It is imagined that wood from the trees in the existing landscape would be used to create the structures of the house, forming columns and beams to create an organic roof that will evolve over time to accommodate the evolution of the four generations. The methods of construction will be passed on from one generation to the next. The act of building strengthens family bonds, with memories embedded in the fabric of the house that slowly grows over time. Depicted here is the imagined house from 2021 to 2071.