I recently had a chance to watch a photo shoot for a fashion magazine at a photography studio located in a former cotton warehouse in Beijing that is now called Jin Yuan Art Center.  It’s located a little southeast of the CBD and is now home to creative industries— agencies, studios and the like.   Most of the brick buildings seem original and most that have been transformed, have been done well.  Thankfully, some of the old buildings have retained their old prohibition signs such as the one in the lower left, warning not to light matches.   In a city of either really old—hutongs, and ancient—temples and the Forbidden City or super new– skyscrapers, CCTV modern, what caught my eye about this area was how normal it was and how it wasn’t trying to be anything—old or new.  So it was a nice surprise that it was 50 years old and transformed to what it needed to be—a home for creatives—functional and aesthetically appealing without too much effort.