Open Village Silima

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The Art house 'Open Village' is named after the movie 'Rome, Open City', its Chinese name, the 'Seed theatre', is emblematic of prosperity and growth.
The edifice spent its past life as a rural cement plant, the original structure is now preserved and encased within a new facade, which brick patterns and glazed staircase are carefully designed. The cement silos next to the main building are refurbished into a bookstore.
It enriches the cultural and art scene of village.

Dimensions & Packaging

Width 16000mm x Depth 38700mm x Height 14700mm

Tags

Open Village, Seed, Cinema, Colorful glass, Glazed staircase, Red brick, Polygonal window, 86358 Short Film Festival, Lvliang Literature Festival, Jia Zhang-ke Art Center

Production Technology

To avoid the damages of the glass pattern after long-time exposed to the rain, light and touch, we chose to attach the pattern between two slices of glass instead of simply pasting film to the inside face of glass. Pierced brick walls ripple across the elevation to act as ‘brise soleil’ shading device to help hiding the functional opens in different dimensions.

Design Challenge

The glass staircases are the hardest part of the whole construction process. Limited to the budget, the inner framework, the shape of the whole staircases and even the shape of every glass piece all followed the manually completed model to be achieved. Meanwhile, every corner and edge of the glass pattern were carefully designed, matched and jointed which made the final staircase outlook unified.

Research

Cultural resources have been funnelled into the urbanized areas instead of the rural areas where population and economic power is lower. The preservation of regional culture in rural villages is nearly impossible due to the scarcity of cultural venues. A self-sustaining operation model, and centralized provision of resources and programs are what it takes to develop a robust cultural venue.
‘Open Village’ encapsulates both of these qualities. This extra-ordinary cinema houses not only an auditorium, but also a bookstore and an extensive exhibition wall. It can accommodate both outdoor and indoor activities. The centralized cultural program ensures the efficient provision of resources to recipients, hence attracting a wider audience for the cultural experience. Apart from daily operation, extra revenue is generated from the letting the venue to event organizers. This extra stream of income will sustain the project in the long run.

Inspiration

'Open Village', as suggested by its name, is an open window on literature and film art to enlighten the sleepy farming village where it situated in.
Pierced brick walls, polygonal glazings and the glazed staircase make walkways weaving through the outer shell occasionally, like sprouts growing through the cracks of a block of clay. When these elements come into play, the stone cold building is turned into an animated dynamic hub,which shows the plant to be rich of vitality and openness.

Project Duration

The project started in March 2017 and finished in September 2019, which is located in Industrial Park of Creative Culture, Jiajiazhuang, Fenyang, Shanxi, China.

Operation Flow

Since Open Village opened to the public, it brought high quality cultural resources to the rural village where it located in. Annually organized 86358 short film festival, Lvliang literature festival and other common cultural activities attract artists and young people to this place. The colourful glass staircases also became an unique postcard of this village.

Image Credits

Image #1: Photographer Weiqi Jin, Open Village, 2019
Image #2: Photographer Weiqi Jin, Open Village, 2019
Image #3: Photographer Weiqi Jin, Open Village, 2019
Image #4: Photographer Shimu Wang, Open Village, 2019
Image #5: Photographer Weiqi Jin, Open Village, 2019
Video Credits: Photographers and Editors YANG Studio, Open Village, 2019