Architects: AZL Architects: AZL architects – Zhang Lei
Area: 270 m²
Year: 2008
Photographs: Iwan Baan
City: Nanjing
Country: China
Concrete Slit House, a contemporary concrete residence by AZL Architects in central Nanjing, integrates modern design with a historic neighborhood. The structure uses a custom concrete mold with wood strips to align with nearby century-old brick buildings. A slit in the concrete introduces transparency and varies interior heights, enhancing privacy in upper bedrooms. Despite Nanjing’s extensive concrete high-rises, Slit House is the city’s first authentic concrete building.
Concrete Slit House is a contemporary concrete residence located in a quiet Kuomingtang-era neighborhood in central Nanjing. The entire structure, including the roof, is constructed from concrete pressed into a custom mold, handmade from five-centimeter horizontal wood strips. This choice maintains scale with the adjacent century-old brick buildings. The slit in the concrete introduces transparency, responding to interior circulation, and varying interior heights and elevations. This design creates half-floor volumes in upper bedrooms, enhancing privacy. The living room spans two stories, the dining area covers one and a half levels, and the remaining bedrooms and studies occupy single-story spaces.
Although China consumes nearly half of the world’s concrete supply and Nanjing has seen 1,300 new concrete high-rises in the past twenty-five years, Slit House is the first genuinely concrete building in the city.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
