The Pine is a minimalist townhouse located in Changning, China, designed by Studio Glume. All of the residential houses in this community are in brick and wood construction, and the inside volume outline of each building are identical as well. There are many excellent buildings preserved in Shanghai during the Republic of China, however, these residential houses of this district are lacking in both design and construction quality. More than half a century passed, and each generation of residents in the community has shown a variety of appearances of the internal structure.

By redesigning and reconstructing, the architects want to create a residential building that is independent of the surrounding environment in terms of visual appearance and lifestyle. The original internal structure of the home was quite complicated. The layout was chaotic, and the connection of programs was not comfortable as it wastes the limited space. The designers completely emptied the interior of the house, and redivided the vertical structure, building the floor with stairs.

Photography by Zhifeng He