项目位于草厂北巷，毗邻钟鼓楼。改造前，这里是一家即将被弃用的胡同民宿，拥有7间客房，每个房间风格各异，庭院略显嘈杂。在改造预算十分有限的条件下，建筑师提出”微介入”的策略，尝试用较小动作，较低成本的建造，实现四合院的更新。

The project is located at Caochang North Lane, adjacent to the Bell and Drum Tower. Before the renovation, it was a Hutong homestay about to be abandoned, with 7 rooms of different styles and a slightly busy courtyard. With a very limited renovation budget, the architects proposed a strategy of “micro-intervention”, trying to realize the renewal of the quadrangle courtyard with a smaller action and a lower cost.

改造中，只拆除较为破败狭小的东屋、南北房的两道隔断墙及卫生间。置入三个方盒子，一个加于院中，作为茶室；另两个融入南北两房，作为开放办公室与多功能室。其余三个房间，厨房及两个客房基本保留原有格局：一个客房改为小茶室兼会客室，另一个客房作为员工休息室而整体保留。

During the process of renovation, only small portion of the house were demolished: the dilapidated narrow east room, the two partition walls of the south and north room and the toilet. Three boxes were added. One was added in the courtyard as a tea room and the other two were integrated into the north and south rooms as an open office and a multi-function room. The rest three rooms, one kitchen and two guest rooms were basically kept in the original layout with one guest room converted into a small tea room and meeting room and the other retained as a staff lounge.

茶室设计的思路源于对场地中“时间”的思考。建筑师有意在这里连接杏树、茶室与太阳，探讨“时间”在这个场地中所带来的变化。树与茶室相距6米，树冠半径正好在5-6米之间，树高13米。太阳一天的移动使院中的树影随之而变：午后树影开始进入茶室圆窗，并在茶桌上产生粼粼波光，暗调的茶室也由于光线的进入而产生特别的仪式感，在光影游走中，于3-4点之间达到高潮。

The idea of the tea house comes from the contemplation on “time” on the site. The architect intends to connect the apricot tree, the tea house, and the sun to explore the changes brought by "time" to this site. The distance between the tree and the tea house is 6 meters. The crown radius of the tree is 5 to 6 meters and the tree is 13-meter high. The movement of the sun throughout a day projects the shadows of tree in the courtyard, which comes through the round window of the tea house in the afternoon, reflecting sparkling lights on the table. A sense of serenity is emerges in the room as the light enters, which reaches a climax in the lights and shadows around 3 to 4 in the afternoon.

圆形窗的设置，是对茶室空间虚与实的思考，即充当一个光线的收纳器，也是对视线的引导，在透与不透之间，增加院子的空间层次。由外而内，茶室是院中对景；由内而外，茶室是沟通人与自然的媒介。

The circular window is out of the consideration of the void and solid space of the tea house, which acts as a receiver of light, and guides the sight at the same time so that it increases the spatial level of the yard. While looking from the outside to the inside, the tea house is the opposite scenery of the courtyard; from the inside to the outside, the tea house is the medium of communication between man and nature.

新建茶室使用了钢结构，结构构件外露，强调空间中的线条关系，与原建筑的木结构相呼应。露台栏杆被缩小了高度，让饮茶者入座后，隐匿于山墙之下，融于环境之中。双层茶空间不仅加深了与杏树的对话，创造了不同的喝茶体验，还可在露台上远眺钟鼓楼，在空间上与城市产生连接。

The steel structure is used for the new tea house. With the structural members exposed, it emphasizes the relationship of the lines in the space and echoes the wooden structure of the original building. The terrace railing is reduced in height to allow the tea drinkers to get themselves hidden inside the gables and involved in the environment. The double-layer space of the tea house not only deepens the communication between man and the apricot tree so as to create different experience about tea drinking, but also connects with the city by overlooking the Bell and Drum tower from the terrace.

庭院青砖立砌，沿东西向排布，内部错落嵌入条形混凝土，线性的节奏让狭小的庭院稍显舒展。青砖与青石延续了新加的灰色调元素，只留出茶室正面的白墙，以接收杏树的光影。南北房内部屋顶保留了原有的材质，新旧之间通过槽铝分割开来，一条延续的线条分出上下、新旧的质感。

The courtyard is built of black bricks and arranged along the east-west direction. With the strips of concrete embedded between the black bricks, the horizontal pattern widens the width of the narrow courtyard. The black bricks and black stones correspond with the overall gray tone, leaving the white front wall of the tea house alone to receive the light and shadow of the apricot tree. As the interior roof of the north and south houses retains the original material, the new and the old are separated by the aluminum groove, making a continuous line to separate the texture between the upper and lower as well as the new and the old.