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Kevin Cahani - RIBA Part 1 Sample Portfolio
Reimagining Beijing: Crafting a City of Creativity and Art
Y3.S2 Project (2025)
The site for this is located in central Beijing, Xicheng District, China, west of the city’s historic core, the Forbidden City and within walking distance of the Second Ring Road. On the site is the Fusuijing Communist Block, a well-known example of mid-20th century modernist housing which was used to amplify my project.
Set in Beijing’s Xicheng District, this project reimagines the Fusuijing Building an abandoned housing block now occupied by artists as the heart of a new urban fabric. Centered on artist-led community revival, the proposal stitches together fragmented landscapes, transforming isolated hutongs and disused spaces into a connected network of live-work artist dwellings. A meandering wooden structure weaves through the district supporting elevated housing, carving out exhibition spaces, and guiding a public journey through art. This structural spine becomes a tool of quiet resistance, reigniting creativity in a city where free expression is often suppressed. From intimate studios to collective showcases, each intervention reclaims space for artistic voice, reconnecting artists with local residents and the city at large. Rather than isolating art, it embeds it into the everyday creating not only places to live, but spaces to make, share, and celebrate. This is architecture as protest, as healing, and as a hopeful blueprint for a reimagined Beijing.
