Project Name: House of Cross

Location: Beijing, China

Design Team: Chaoffice

Total Floor Area: 334 m²

Completion: 2024

Photography: Zhu Yumeng

Feature:

Project - Located in Beijing's Tongzhou District, the House of Cross represents Chaoffice's response to post-pandemic lifestyle shifts, designed as a single-story residence that accommodates three generations living and working together. Facing strict building regulations—residential plots limited to single-story structures with eaves no higher than 3 meters—the design team transformed these constraints into creative opportunities.

The 334-square-meter residence adopts an innovative cross-shaped layout with wings extending in different directions and joining at their ends. To maintain the proportions of the central courtyard, the side wings were consolidated and pulled away from the perimeter, creating a narrow secondary courtyard at the rear. Similarly, the north-facing main hall was shifted southward, opening up a backyard. Each wing now enjoys dual-sided natural light, while the entire courtyard benefits from uninterrupted sightlines.

The building's structural framework ingeniously recedes toward the roof ridge, with structural elements converging at the shear wall cores to form a cross-shaped structural anchor. The house, much like a mushroom, is supported at its center while its eaves extend outward in all directions. Freeing the perimeter from structural constraints allows the façade to dissolve, merging interior and exterior spaces. The cross-shaped layout creates a view that moves from near to far—courtyard, house, courtyard again—revealing overlapping scenes of daily life.

The connection between glass façade frames and eaves was carefully designed: the eaves beams were lowered to 2.4 meters, allowing the eaves to extend downward like the edge of a mushroom cap. This solution maintains a comfortable ceiling height while creating a sense of shelter—whether under bright sun or during heavy rain, those sitting by the window feel like small creatures nestled beneath a mushroom cap, protected and at ease.

The cross-configuration spatial arrangement addresses the needs of multi-generational living, with private spaces positioned at the four terminal points, providing a balance of intimacy and separation. Grandparents, parents, children, and guests each have their private spaces, while the central areas naturally become public zones where the family gathers and interacts.

House of Cross creates an architectural language that is both contemporary and rooted in place through the combination of materials like laminated eucalyptus plywood and bridge-cut-off aluminum alloy windows, demonstrating Chaoffice's design philosophy of addressing real-life challenges rather than pursuing abstract traditions.

Design Team - Chaoffice was officially established by Cheng Zhi in 2017, initially named as an observation and research institution parallel to "OEU Studio." Taking on approximately three projects annually, it has maintained the scale of a small studio, primarily led by Cheng Zhi with occasional collaboration from junior architects.

After obtaining his master's degree in 2008, Cheng Zhi worked at URBANUS Beijing for six years before founding "OEU Studio" with university classmates and transitioning to independent practice in 2017. Chaoffice's methodology transcends conventional architectural practice, positioning design as one facet of a multidisciplinary approach that includes research, writing, documentation, and theoretical exploration.

The studio's work is characterized by its response to site-specific conditions and hidden spatial orders, informed by Cheng's ongoing research projects such as "Impermanence in Various Forms"—an investigation into enduring urban elements that transform over time, echoing Aldo Rossi's theories on urban permanences. Cheng's design approach places architecture in parallel with observational research, reading, and writing, which mutually nourish each other to form a unique design perspective.

Chaoffice's projects demonstrate a thoughtful reconciliation of regulatory constraints, spatial innovation, and contextual sensitivity, as exemplified by the House of Cross in Beijing's Tongzhou District.