In the flagrant quest towards urbanisation, a bustle traversing the globe, fabrics of cities transform to fit in a new mould of the modern—oftentimes making erasure inevitable for zones that fail to comply. Some cities, however, resist the wave of change—if not entirely, just enough to retain their cultural identity and charm. The city of Suzhou in China, with its captivating canals and abundant ancient relics, has successfully preserved its heritage in the old neighbourhoods; a stroll through these historic roads reveals numerous quaint old residences adorned with grey bricks and flat tiles. Amidst the poetic fragments of the city is the Zhang Garden, a valuable cultural landmark of the neighbourhood located at No.38 Jinfan Road. The residence, dating back to 1932, belonged to Zhang Taiyan, an eminent scholar of Chinese nationalism. Decades later in 2023, Gu Wu Xuan Bookstore acquired the century-old mansion, entrusting design studio Tsing-Tien Making with its renovation into a bookstore and a museum.

Commenting on the philosophy behind the adaptive reuse project, the design team states, "Renovation is not simply about blending into the old. Instead, it involves the fusion of the old and the new to imbue this long-standing house with a new language, from design to functionality and the experience it offers visitors. We hope the story of Zhang Taiyan and his house does not stop in that specific time but continues to carry forward with the new memory and language."

Tsing-Tien Making was established by architect and artist Freja Bao to deliver projects that interweave traditional culture with her design discipline. As an artist, Bao’s work has been exhibited in art galleries and museums across the UK, Italy and China. She has been practising as an architect since 2014, with a range of projects in the UK, Japan and China. The renovation project for Zhang Taiyan’s former private residence abides by the architect’s creative philosophy of fusing old into new.

The project site includes three mixed-style houses built during the Republican period, a harmonious juxtaposition of Chinese and Western architecture evident in their facades. The exterior is a composition of plain brick walls, Suzhou-style wooden lattice windows, Chinese-style pavilions and Roman columns. The residence, being a cultural heritage site of Jiangsu province, had undergone comprehensive conservation and reinforcement before Tsing-Tien Making took charge. Upon site survey, the design team identified issues and constraints surrounding the project. The first tier of limitations was government-imposed—laying down stringent guidelines on the renovation of the heritage site. In terms of planning, the original room sizes, layout and circulation were not entirely suitable for a public bookstore design; the limited width and sizable depth of the building hampered natural light. Multiple instances of repairs and maintenance rendered the original building materials and appearance damaged and the walls and columns became non-linear. The architects also observed that the landscape design lacked the subtlety characteristic of Suzhou gardens.

With the extant canvas of the site, the architect envisioned a space that brings together books, traditional culture and the study of Chinese classics—elevating functionality and visitors’ experiences through design interventions. The southern building, measuring almost 600 square metres, morphs into a residence-based museum design, while the other two buildings on the north, spanning nearly 880 square metres, evolve to encompass the main section of the bookstore. In essence, the renovation architecture strives to respond to the historical value of  Zhang Taiyan’s residence and its contemporary significance in the surrounding community and Suzhou.

The renovation strategies addressed three primary ideas: redefining circulation and spatial relationships, integrating the landscape with the built structure and strategic introduction of new materials and colours. With the shift from private to public functions in mind, the design team opens parts of the 90-year-old site for public use. Circulation patterns are planned and realigned with the new intended requisites. The design also aims to achieve diverse experiences in limited space, taking cues from the characteristics of Suzhou gardens, their shifting sceneries and elevations. The architects create folded spaces and build on the concept of vertical gardens to invite greenery inside. Furthermore, a series of new materials and colours are thoughtfully woven into the project to enhance the tour experience without compromising the space's aesthetic.

The building renovation splits the originally disjointed layout into two distinct sections: the northern and the southern halves; this is achieved by utilising the first and second columns on the north side as a boundary. The area in the south is allocated to be a public space while the northern half houses the back-of-house activities—segregating the visitor and back-of-house circulation. Display cabinets and service counters occupying the recesses formed by door frames and columns optimise the utility of the space.

The concept of the vertical courtyard and spaces is developed in the project to tackle the uniform, indistinguishable layout of each room. The south-facing windows were the only connection with the greenery outside. The contrived courtyard design is not limited to a flat plane; all the southern spaces are bridged and a reading area in the loop—resembling the Chinese character ‘回’—is created by the window. The element of complexity in the circulation nudges the visitors to explore the spaces and the scenery both vertically and horizontally.

In the interior design, wood is arranged in rhythmic grids that extend to the ceiling and the walls on the west. The orderly array is complemented by jade-green panels and creates a visual guide for the visitors. Bookshelves, display cylinders, display boxes and racks are arranged carefully to shape the space. Lightweight perforated aluminium sheets inject a warm visual appeal to the store. The designers intended to create a space that serves the function of a bookstore and provides readers with a glimpse of the traditional artefacts and activities in the National Study Lecture Hall.

The scenery of the Zhang Garden trickles into the rooms through the rectangular stained-glass windows. This dialogue of the interior spaces with the landscape design establishes a sense of rhythm for the visitors, with the garden views adorning every corner of the bookstore. Three distinct levels of greenery occupy the window frames on different floors: shrubs on the first floor, tree trunks on the second and budding branches on the third floor. The design team also paid heed to the varying shades of green, distilling three for the project: ash green in the grass, the jade-toned green of the camphor trees and the vibrant green of fruit-bearing branches. The selected hues, beyond corresponding to the garden, also represent Zhang Taiyan’s traits: his dignified title as a master of Chinese classics (ash green), his strong inner personality (camphor-tree green) and his new ideas (fruit green)  .

For Zhang Taiyan, Suzhou was a location ideal for fostering a scholarly atmosphere and moulding future generations. His spirit of nationalism and cultural attainment is encapsulated in the National Study Lecture Hall. The space features straw elements with latex paint to concoct a wall texture both coarse and resilient. Curved lines reach towards the dome to exude a secluded and cavernous ambience. The tables and chairs can be arranged and rearranged to suit the transitioning functions of the space.

The revived Zhang Garden accentuates the latent value and contemporary relevance of ancient architecture that often remains untapped. A renewed purpose takes over the nearly century-old building without the essence of its former inhabitant and his philosophies being obliterated. Gu Wu Xuan Bookstore, striving to be emblematic of the ancient city, becomes a site where diverse and multi-layered components collide harmoniously—history, culture and artistic relevance weave a tapestry for experiences of reading to unfold.