This is an old station maintenance building with no clear formation age. It has not been removed while preserved in the booming process of urban renewal, for the only reason that the property right belongs to Beijing Railway Administration. The original building was dilapidated and dusty, and the new master rented and cleaned it, therefore changes there surprised leaders from the railway station when they visited there again.
The yard mainly consists of three parts from south to north. At the south side is a single story building of wood roof truss with double pitched roof; a single story building and a small building of double pitched roof with a cockloft stand in the center and a lighting window on the top ; a single story building of reconstructed single pitched roof is located at the north side. The three parts of buildings were connected by a western building arranged from south to north at the west side. The yard is characterized by tens-year old trees with arbors, which mainly are pine and phoenix trees as the major, and some ornamental trees. Three giant ancient trees officially protected are located at the north side of the yard. The perfect location and layout as well as graceful posture are complement with buildings, by which, people who firstly comes here are always fascinated. Shielded by giant trees, the yard is very quiet and secluded although nearly closed to East 4th Ring Road.
The design began with a functional arrangement. The difficulty in designing club building is that only when architects understand the functions and have experience in operation can appropriate functional layout be worked out according to diverse features of the building and personality characteristics of the club be showed and finally accepted by the market. According to characteristics of building on site, the south house with pitched roof is used as exhibition room, and its herringbone roof truss with a great sense of history adds a feeling of vicissitudes. For the north house with pent roof, because it has to preserve its cross wall, so it can not be used as a whole, but suitable for a VIP room. Buildings in the west can be arranged as kitchen and for other auxiliary functions. Buildings in the center can not be directly used due to limited area and space.
Porch at the main entrance directly extends from “Yi Men” to the perimeter wall in east front yard, and ends at a square water pond, in which, the clean water is flowing over stone and reflecting sunshine, showing the elegant style of the club. Ornament fabric swaying with wind on the porch shines with baffling radiance under light in the evening and welcomes guests from various parts of the city. A pair of mounting carved stone lions is located outside the main entrance and a pair of carved stone lions who are holding drums is located outboard of “Yi Men”. They stand in sharp contrast to steel, glass and other modern building materials, showing a strong sense of space and time transition and enhancing the atmosphere of commercial activities.
Pure white painting is applied for interior design, so that it is possible to exhibit art collections which are gradually increased in the future and also to further set off the steel-frame roof of wooden-roof main building for original building against white wall. Self-leveling cement in deep color is applied at large scale, creating a stark contrast with white walls to meet any needs of business operation and artistic activities. Some important locations, such as counter of the main bar, the center of exhibition space and north wall at reception area, are decorated with my personal collections of traditional Chinese architecture, making sharp contrast in visual and cultural aspects between modern pure spatial pattern and traditional Chinese architecture and creating a club with distinctive features.
