HEYU · Red-Brick Corridor Courtyard

HEYU · Red-Brick Corridor Courtyard is situated in Zhangzhuang Village, Xingyang, Zhengzhou, China. The project grows from a coordinated effort by the village collective and long-term residents to reactivate underused homestead plots, bringing in new residents and programs to spur community revival through light-touch, progressive renewal. Rather than feasting old–new coexistence as a simple visual contrast, HEYU frames the intervention through a 'boundary–field' sense: boundaries are converted as inhabitable thresholds that make transitions accessible, visible, and participatory, while the field of use is reorganised into places that can be used, socially claimed, and sustainably operated—turning 'juxtaposition' into a re-ordered set of relationships.
The spatial strategy combines retention-and-upgrading with new infill as a stitching method. Existing historic houses are reinforced and repaired, then converted into a gallery and exchange platform, forming a visitor-oriented front zone. On the adjacent open plot, a new courtyard persists within the vernacular settlement's spatial schema and serves as an inner zone for reception, hosting, and events. Corridors, courtyards, and portals connect the two zones into a sequence of movement and pause, with a gradual shift in openness, allowing display and daily use to coexist.
Meanwhile, Permeable edges constitute experience. Interlaced corridors and multi-entry courtyards create routes that expand or compress, so boundaries guide, invite lingering, and enable encounter. Openings frame bamboo shadows, weathered brickwork, and distant terrain, making the landscape part of the interface and producing a continuous, scene-by-scene narrative. New red-brick masonry translates traditional craft through patterned bonds and light–shadow effects, while old walls retain staggered-bond logic with modular repair for stability and consistent scale. Passive daylighting and ventilation, a high-performance envelope, wind–solar–storage integration, and MENRED China Group's smart WuHeng System (constant temperature, humidity, oxygen, cleanliness, and quietness) support energy self-sufficiency and a healthier indoor environment. HEYU serves as a replicable architectural spatial schema and renewal mode for revitalising rural courtyards through progressive urban renewal.