The rapid expansion of Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, has squeezed the former rural villages into a special densified urban condition, which is normally called “urban villages”. The autonomically development led to a spectacular congregation of “hand-shake” buildings. Tangxia, where the Youth Commune locates, is the largest of this type in Guangzhou.

The basic idea on restoration project of the 7-story handshake building is a vertically "sandwich" community: the "bottom" and "top" of the original building transformed to the common domains of new community, while the middle 5 levels remained to their original function, apartment units. The architect chose to enclose the poorly lit and ventilated first and the second levels into an indoor common area protected and highlighted from the surrounding dark and humid environment, while the roof, a totally open-air and lit outdoor space, was made into another important area for common life and social interaction. The re-construction consists to the principal of the sandwich division method. Considering the difficulty in delivery of building materials, the architect designed a new linear masonry structure to transformation of the exterior wall that enclosing the bottom and top common area. The new masonry wall is stacked with altered #-shape concrete grass brick, which creates a unique façade texture that reflects the real construction method.