newitalianblood

The site is the historical Dongguan Guild house in Beijing. It was built approximately 120 years ago outside of the ancient city walls in the Xuanxi North district, and was a gathering point for the people from the city of Dongguan travelling to Beijing. Today, after decades of changes and demolitions, it’s part of the Historical Appearance Coordination Area in the downtown of Beijing. To approach this area it was necessary to develop a strategy based on two parallel analysis: 1. the heritage survey and evaluation, to allow us to trace the evolution of the site, and distinguish the elements with historical value from those without; 2. the social and urban survey, to understand the needs and the expectations of the local residents and to trace the main characteristics of this part of the city.