The project is located in Mingyue Village, Pujiang, Chengdu, and is a transformation of a typical rural house in Sichuan. The original building was a brick-concrete structure composed of a two-storey main house, a single-storey kitchen extension, and a long side shed formerly used as a pigsty.

The intervention began with the removal of the shed, releasing a new construction boundary along which reinforced concrete walls were cast. Together with the retained existing building, these new walls established a renewed structural perimeter. Steel frames were then inserted between the old and new structural lines, creating new living spaces, semi-open transitional areas, and a redefined courtyard relationship. What had previously been a traditional rural dwelling enclosed by auxiliary structures was reorganised into a continuous and more open residential system.

The new steel structure works in coordination with the concrete walls, which provide lateral stability while also reinforcing the original masonry structure, whose load-bearing capacity relied primarily on transverse walls. In this way, the old and new parts form a new structural whole.

The building adopts a deliberately direct material strategy: fair-faced concrete, exposed hollow brick, corrugated steel roofing, and unfinished components together define the final spatial atmosphere. Materials are not applied as finishes but participate directly in the architectural expression; traces of formwork, joints, and construction tolerances are retained as part of the building itself.

This approach responds both to the low-tech construction conditions of the rural context and to the discipline imposed by a limited budget, allowing resources to be concentrated on spatial quality and basic comfort. The newly built area is approximately 280 square metres, with 200 square metres of retained and upgraded existing structure. The total construction cost was controlled at RMB 1 million, equivalent to approximately RMB 2,000 per square metre. Construction was carried out entirely by local builders.