四合院—品牌 branding siheyuan

"BRANDING SIHEYUAN" by a+a anderloni associates

"BRANDING SIHEYUAN" is a general alternative strategy aimed to improve, from the bottom and not from the top, the local culture and economy of the hutong areas in Beijing, in order to launch a virtuous cycle and allow the existing local reality to achieve renewed identity and better standards of life. In collaboration withWe Are Müesli (Claudia Molinari & Matteo Pozzi).

Project curated by Fabrizio Gurrado (a+a anderloni associates) at Beijing Design Week 2015 (Baitasi ReMade Design HOP area).

With our proposal we aim to find new ways to promote and preserve hutongs culture and we show a possible different approach rather than proposing a simple refurbishment of a special courtyard.

We think that what should be preserved of the hutongs is not the architecture of siheyuans themselves, but the important human relations and network that stands within them, among their inhabitants.

People there, in a city of 30.000.000 inhabitants, live like in small villages right in the center of the town. They live there, they work there, they study and do everything without even taking a car to move, in a pretty safe environment with no criminality and wher everybody knows everybody in a life model that usually belongs to the countryside villages.

We want to amplify and give a name to this unique phenomenon and let it become a brand that can guarantee a success for hutongs future and become a reason why not to cancel this special part of Beijing tradition.

We propose therefore to ingenerate a territorial marketing strategy to create a new umbrella brand called 'SIHEYUAN' supporting in this way the existing local economy and promoting also new energies and renewed interests for this special micro economy.

The features of this new brand should be based not only on the production itself but on the quality and the recognizability of the product, possibly conforming to precise standards that can make it appreciated in China and also around the global market.

'SIHEYUAN' brand won't be a pure commercial brand, but starting from the bases of traditional Chinese culture it will bring it forward. 'SIHEYUAN' is a proposal for shared platform for inheritance and innovation of traditional Beijinger arts and crafts.

We believe in fact that demolishing a recognized brand and a local successful economy is more difficult than simply demolishing wall.

exhibition contents:

• brand genesis

• a short selecion, as advertisings, of local products made in the hutongs that could be included under the 'SIHEYUAN' umbrella brand.

• a collection of furniture designed in exclusive for this Beijing design week edition by a+a anderloni associates branded SIHEYUAN, based on a modular system inspired by the hutongs and courtyards.

• a game designed by a+a anderloni associates to represent an utopist city made by siheyuans.

• a collaborative video game designed for this Beijing design week edition by We Are Müesli as a representation of the importance of humans relations and collaborations within hutongs.

brand genesis 品牌创建

People, buildings and the environment have constant interactions and mutual influences.Courtyard is just not a residential building shape, but contains a profoundcultural connotation, melted with people and Chinese traditional culture

人、建筑、环境三者间有着千丝万缕的联系，四合院不仅是一种建筑形式，更是蕴含着深刻文化内涵，是人与中国传统文化融合的产物。

文化，是精神文明的保障和导向，是一个民族，一个时代的痕迹。人与建筑和环境是不断互动、相互影响的。四合院为居住建筑，却又蕴含着深刻的文化内涵，是中华传统文化的载体。

‘Siheyuan’products - made in China, made in Beijing, made in the Hutongs

‘Siheyuan’ 产品 - 中国制造，北京制造，胡同制造