Shìwài house

The project layers two states of a single facade. At street level, a thick sprayed render, almost rock-like, keeps the trace of the trowel and catches the raking light. Above it, a cantilevered glazed band reaches out over the forecourt and makes a shelter.

The building is read against its neighbours. The 1980s block stays visible along the flank, with its balconies and timber screens, and the white volume ties into it by height rather than by language. The street gains a covered threshold exactly where the pavement used to run.

The forecourt rises in pale stone steps, lit by a line recessed into each nosing. Banana plants and a young tree in the planters give the scale. The upper terrace, edged with a glass balustrade, carries the glazed volume on into the open air.

At dusk the building changes register. The faceted bay at street level lets through the neon of the 1/2 Cafe&Bar, housed in this same volume, and the white render becomes the screen for what happens inside. It is the project's only sign.