Architects Turn Literal Hole-In-The-Wall Building Into Beijing's Trendiest New Movie Studio

The brick wall was busted open, but that gaping hole was by no means a flaw. Instead, it later came to signify the building's revamped, state-of-the-art design. Indeed the Cun-Design architectural firm recently caught the attention of the editors at esteemed architectural magazine Dezeen for turning this derelict Tongzhou building into an eccentric movie studio brimming with as much character as the actors that will use it for their scenes.

The Dezeen article details how the run-down home in Beijing's fringe east suburb was converted into a multifaceted movie studio for local production company Blue Moon Films. The piece vividly describes a "tear in the original brick wall" that the designers turned into an entryway for a newly-built corridor made from plastic draped timber battens that let "diffused light and a view of the garden to reach the interior."

Other walls that weren't integral to the building's structure were knocked down, meanwhile, so that directors can have more space and options to build scenes they envision.

"We believe that an 'empty' space is not empty and lacking character," the architects told Dezeen, adding: "On the contrary, it makes it possible for us to illustrate this space more truly and clearly, and to avoid getting a space with unnecessary design elements."

Their design is rounded out by panorama windows and a glass bridge between two wings of the second floor, which add to the building's motif of wide openness.

"Throughout the studio, exposed structural elements and roughly executed alterations to the building's fabric provide traces of its past," the author writes, before quoting the architect's musings about creating "a dialogue between old and new" with both the trendier and preserved aged aspects of their design.

Such lofty blueprints are often expected in local design hubs like Dashalan'r or other trendy hutongs. Tongzhou, on the other hand, has often been dismissed as a sprawling series of chain stores when it's not of course relegated to a mere an after thought. All of that seems set to change, however, what with officials plans to relocate their government offices there by . Evidence of that new era is also apparent at the Tongzhou Beiyuan adjacent Wanda shoping complex, which rivals any of Beijing's city center Soho's in terms of scale and glitz. Tongzhou has also long housed some of the city's best artists and galleries in its Songzhuang art distract, while also being the chosen home of much of the indie rock scene, including the members of top drawing band Residence A, who had looked for cheaper digs. All that could very well mean that more cutting edge blueprints like that forged by Cun-Design for Blue Moon could help Tongzhou rival Dashalan'r.

It's a notion that may make uppity downtowners scoff, but one that seems more than possible to a former resident of the suburb like myself, who can vividly recall when the area's sole McDonald's was deemed to be worldly, Gumao seemed all but unreachable through the hours of outlying grid lock, and structures like the current Tongzhou Beiyuan mall seemed unfeasible. Considering how far the district has come, it's potential as a design hub really doesn't seem that far fetched. To see for yourself, read more about Cun-Design's new Tongzhou project here.

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Images: Dezeen, The Guardian