Beijing Whampoa Club is situated in a reconfigured traditional Chinese courtyard house amidst a cluster of modern curtain wall high rises on Beijing's financial street. From the onset, the overriding question concerning the design was how to "properly" engage the traditional Chinese courtyard typology with a restaurant whose aim is to contrast a modern dining experience with traditional Chinese cooking techniques. To address this, NHDRO explored different ways of occupying the traditional courtyard house, providing a constant juxtaposition of new/old, fresh/stale, light/dark, open/enclosed, exemplifying the culinary concept in an architectural experience.