Location: Hengshiji Village, Zhuhai, China

Design Team: StudioTiltedCircle

Area: 321 m²

Year: 2026

Image Credit: StudioTiltedCircle

Design Features: Located in Hengshiji Village in Zhuhai's Jinwan District, SHIJI COMMONS transforms two traditional stone houses into a 321 m² community venue. StudioTiltedCircle treats the existing buildings as a working layer rather than a preserved image, reopening their relationship with light, movement and gathering so that local memory can remain part of everyday use.

Reclaimed stone is set back into layered concrete walls, while new concrete, metal and translucent elements are introduced with deliberate clarity. The intervention does not disguise the difference between old and new. Rough stone, horizontal casting lines and lightweight metal surfaces sit side by side, turning the passage of time into something that can be read at close range.

The narrow space between the two houses becomes a luminous route through the building. A linear skylight draws daylight into the central aisle, while openings, courtyards and steps shape a gradual arrival from the street. Water, planting and tactile surfaces slow the transition, allowing the experience to move repeatedly between enclosed stone walls and open sky.

Inside, the plan remains adaptable for community events, cultural displays and a café. Folding polycarbonate doors shift between transparency and enclosure, enabling the same rooms to host exhibitions, conversations, informal breaks and small gatherings. Stone, concrete and metal establish a shared material language in the café, while restrained furniture and lighting leave public life as the most visible new layer.

A roof terrace extends the interior outdoors and introduces a new vantage point among stone walls, tree canopies and village roofs. Rather than reconstructing the past as a fixed scene, SHIJI COMMONS uses reclaimed material, daylight and adjustable boundaries to prolong the life of rural architecture and return the two houses to the community as a place to meet, pause and share.

Design Team: StudioTiltedCircle is a China-based architecture and design practice working across cultural, landscape and planning, residential, commercial and hospitality projects. Its process is grounded in research and rigorous investigation, with each proposal shaped by its context, programme and cultural setting.

The studio favours clear, environmentally conscious and contemporary design methods, treating concept development and delivery as one continuous process. Across its work, careful adjustments to material, structure and spatial boundaries create architecture that remains functionally precise while building a close relationship with its surroundings and public life.