Xicun Courtyard

This guide to Xicun Courtyard in Chengdu opens with its architect, Liu Jiakun, who once quit the profession entirely, walking out of a state design job in the 1980s to disappear into Tibet and Xinjiang for years before an old classmate's exhibition pulled him back. It follows what he built on his return to his home city: a whole block wrapped in raw red brick, hollowed out around bamboo courtyards, a football pitch and a basketball court, and left loose for whoever showed up with a plan. You'll hear how artists, theatre troupes and design studios moved into the raw units first, and about the elevated running track that spirals up from the ground floor over the rooftop and back down. Look up as you walk the ring, where joggers share the skyline with laundry lines and studio windows.