The Commune at the Great Wall

At Ying's suggestion, Brooke, Ariel and I booked a tour of the "Commune by the Great Wall". This is not quite what it sounds like. There is no one actually living at the commune, it is jsut a collection of modern style residences which are rented out to rich diplomats and business men for conferences and such. They also double as a "museum" of modern architecture - exhibiting award winning work by some of Asia's finest architects.

The houses are indeed "modern" and the architecture is intriguing. If I were to guess at their age I would say maybe 30 or 40 years. Not right. In fact the oldest was build only seven years ago. They are in reasonable condition but not well maintained. The style is mostly of an era past. While it was well worth visiting, and several of the houses were truly inspiring in their design, I was less than blown away by the innovation or care exhibited in the details of these buildings.

Our favorite room was the living room of one of the more post-modern looking houses. Buried below a living roof that blended almost seamlessly with it's environment was a cool, stone-clad haven that looked out over the valley through a continuos wall of northwest facing glass. The acoustics were delightfull with BB King playing in the background, and the simple layout flowed from kitchen to dining area to living space with just enough enclosure between to create a hint of separation.
To finish our tour we relaxed at the hotel with a mediocre $6 iced coffee (note that a typical iced coffee in Beijing costs less than a dollar).
We arrived back at our Hostel in time to greet the rest of our Art in China class and go out for a dumpling feast.