Both my husband and I are architect
This house is designed and constructed by ourselves
It takes us about 5 years
The house covers an area of 1200 m2 and is situated in the suburbs of Beijing
There is a mountain behind
In winter when the outdoor temperature is -20℃
The room temperature can reach over 15℃
My parents
My husband, my daughter
Our pet dog and I
Our family of 6 live in the house
For such a big house, obviously there are 2 problems to solve
First, in a large villa
Heat preservation and lighting require special attention
Secondly
We need to find a lifestyle that makes every family member comfortable
In the mountain area of Beijing, severe cold is an objective reality
So the most basic point is to keep warm
The house has a C-structure
In the middle there is a huge atrium
Where we insert a sun room
Of around 9 m high
We use double glazing for the roof
And there is a huge cement wall inside the sun room
Its role is to absorb heat in winter
When we open all the windows indoors at sunset
The flow of heat absorbed into the room is palpable
So this is how it functions in winter
We conduct a 6-month data collection
The house is indeed warm in winter and cool in summer
The house used to burn 10 tons of coal for one heating season
Now usually we don’t need to turn on the underfloor heating or air condition
Our house has many inner windows and every bedroom faces towards the south
They are for better lighting
And more heat from the sun coming in
Since my father is a scientist
He offers a scientific measurement
Of the size of all our windows
And even the thickness of glass
The position and size of every window
Actually are related to how we use each room
And their own characteristics
For example we plant an old pomegranate tree in the yard
Then in the tea room we make a small window
Which resembles the framed scenery in Chinese garden
Dining room is probably where the family members communicate with each other the most
We have 2 windows here
One towards the door so that we can see clearly
Who comes to visit us
The other window faces the yard
We especially make it very low
As the wall can block what we don’t need to see
And only keep our own sceneries
Intentionally we don’t install any lights over the doorstep
When the night falls, we would turn on the lights inside
And as you open the door, the lights comes out
It seems like they are welcoming you back home
This is an atmosphere that we deliberately create
This house in fact is a very honest house
Its ultimate goal is to provide a comfortable living space for our whole family
It probably has few fancy
Or modern elements
But it solves many practical problems
“What kind of life do I want?”
You need to answer this question honestly