Tongxian Gatehouse

Tongxian Gatehouse in Beijing, China by Office dA

Projects by the Boston-based firm Office dA - recipient of numerous Progressive Architecture Awards, among others - tend to use common materials, like brick, in unique and expressive ways. In 1995's Casa La Roca, for example, the terra cotta exterior folds and ripples, appearing unlike anything else done with the material. For their first contribution to the Tongxian Art Center, its gatehouse, the architects "test the possible interactions between brick, concrete and plaster."

In addition to serving as an entry to the Art Center site, the structure houses apartments and studios for two artists-in-residence. One first notices the prevalent use of a local brick - gray and variegated - on its exterior. Rather than merely choosing between running and stacked bond, or similar, the architects pulled bricks out to create a textural pattern across the otherwise blank walls, while also recessing or even removing bricks to provide greater variety. But they even went beyond this by varying the degrees to which the brick is projected in certain locations, so a continuity exists between these and the flat areas, almost like the brick is gradually pulling away from the facade.

The other major exterior material is native chuzumu wood, used to frame the windows of the apartments and studios. This material is a fitting contrast to the brick. The adjacent, exposed concrete structure starts to hint at the material interaction of which the architects mention.

While the exterior gives the impression of a cube-like interior, the opposite is true: canted plaster walls - particularly in the stair - shape the interior in dramatic ways. Other spaces actually indicate that certain exterior walls are far from being perfectly vertical, subtle on the outside but less than subtle inside. In some ways, the texture of the brick and the playfulness of the interior and the cantilevered "gate" make the small structure an idiosyncratic update of a Louis I. Kahn house, one that fuses disparate natural materials into a pleasing composition that places the occupants in a unique relationship to their surroundings.