@INSITU PROJECT (unbuilt)
XIANNIANGXI VILLAGE HALL XIANNIANGXI, GUANGDONG, CHINA Office An office cum meeting room accommodating 10 social workers who manage the community centre.
Boutique A place for local crafts and produce to be sold, generating revenue for the village.
Storage For furniture and utilities for community hall
Workshop A wood workshop for local crafts to blossom, products are sold at the boutique.
Main hall The main hall is formed as a negative space once the functional spaces are plugged in to the concrete structure
PREMISE Xianniangxi is located three hours north east of Guangzhou in mountainous terrain. Recently earmarked as an impoverished village, it no longer can sustain itself from the former agriculture that once supported it. Recently Xianniangxi has undergone a significant shift: unlike many other aging and left behind villages, several younger village members have returned to the village with the desire to transform and revitalise the village. They aim to respect their ancestors and use the natural values of the village in sustainable ways to make it an example for other villages in the region. To this end various initiatives have taken place during the past three years. For instance the villager-led implementation of a basic guesthouse in formerly abandoned mud-brick houses; the cottage industry making of plum wine that can be sold outside the village; the conducting of low level tours through the village and its natural surroundings; and the development of a community built square. These examples, completed with almost no budget show the positive spirit and attitude towards the village future.
THE SITE The heritage site, located adjacent to the village temple, used to be split into smaller plots amongst the villagers. The ancestry of sharedness of the site, gives a sense of community togetherness. The programme for a communal space derived aims to inherit this tradition of the land, giving a venue for all villagers and visitors to gather.
S T R AT E G Y
ROOF STRUCTURE
Echoing the sense of community and sharedness, spatial cores come together under one expressive monolithic roof. The roof offers a shelter such that functional cores can be built to their needs when prompted.
The proposed monolithic roof is formed and supported by a criss-cross megastructure, stands in harmony with the set of roofs of the adjacent temple. Pitches of the roofscape were carefully studied and fine-tuned to balance its environmental impacts such as slope for rainwater drainage, available headroom and sunlight penetration for the interior.
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1. Main Hall 2. Tea Corner 3. Storage 4. Boutique 5. Workshop 6. WC 7. Office 8. Balcony 9. Meeting Room
1/F Plan
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G/F Plan