Guanyu Zizi House by Tanzo Space Design — Modern Living Rooted in Chinese Spiritual Tradition

This page is also available in the following languages:🇷🇺🇺🇦🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇸🇵🇱🇨🇳

A Home Named After the Heart Sutra

Inspired by the Heart Sutra, the name Guanyu Zizi (Avalokiteshvara, meaning "the one who looks") reflects a philosophy of moving through complexity to clarity. For designer Wang Dacun at Tanzo Space Design, the project was less about creating a finished object and more of a design practice as meditation—exploring how architecture can harmonize with tradition, environment and the human spirit.

Located in Haidian district, at the edge of the city and village where ancient rice fields once flourished, the project rethinks the concept of a rural home. In the context of rapid urban expansion, this dwelling became a testing ground for combining modern lifestyle, cultural memory and natural integration.

Intervention Without Bias

The starting point was a typical red brick house, common in the local village. Instead of imposing a pre-designed solution, Tanzo adopted an open approach adaptable to the site: intervening where necessary, adapting to the physical environment and shaping space around the lifestyle of its owners.

This method allowed the house to develop naturally—like a dialogue between land, family and time itself. A pavilion-style internal courtyard was created at the heart of the home, bringing light air and play into its core. Water elements become interactive spaces for children, emphasizing the house as a living organism, not a static object.

A Dialogue Between Past and Present

The project layers old with new, constantly discussing:

Rough brick walls of the original 1970s construction remain exposed.
A spiral white staircase introduces contemporary sculptural energy.
Large windows and lanterns frame views of the Sihan Mountains and river, transforming daily routines into landscape experiences.

This blend of nostalgia and modernity creates a deep temporal dimension, reminding the inhabitants of the continuity between tradition and innovation.

Materials and Atmosphere

The material palette was deliberately limited, allowing authentic textures to shape the atmosphere:

Concrete and solid wood form the structural foundation.
Glass and steel bring lightness and modern precision.
White walls balance Beijing's often gray skies, enhancing natural light.
Bamboo in the courtyard evokes Jiangnan gardens, embedding Eastern poetry into a northern context.

Working with natural constraints, the design achieves self-consistency—a quiet, meditative environment where boundaries between inside and outside, old and new, city and village blur.

Life, Improvisation and Compatibility

What sets the Guanyu Zizi House apart is its vitality. The design encourages improvisation:

Guests gather in the courtyard at different times of day, discovering new light and shadow games.
Children invent games around water features.
Friends can sit anywhere, feeling at home while finding their own comfort corners.

This vitality transforms the house from a mere dwelling into a social and spiritual landscape, constantly evolving, always alive.

Tradition Reimagined

The interiors blend Chinese heritage and modern life:

Furniture from local brands harmonizes with objects from the Qing and Ming dynasties.
Stone inscriptions coexist with contemporary art.
A balcony window with a teapot becomes the stage for everyday rituals.
Recycled rice wine barrels add playful and nostalgic charm to evening courtyard moments.

Here, design serves as a cultural revitalization tool, reviving forgotten traditions and reintegrating them into daily life.

The Guanyu Zizi House by Tanzo Space Design demonstrates how architecture can bridge rural tradition and modern ambition, between specific functionality and spiritual resonance. Grounded in the teachings of the Heart Sutra, this house and meditation is a place where life, culture and nature flow in harmony.

In an era when rural China is rapidly changing, the Guanyu Zizi House stands as a prototype for modern rural living: respecting its past, adapting to the present and quietly inspiring the future.