Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum by Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye

Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum by Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award in Brons in Architectuur, Gebouwen en Constructieontwerp Competition Category.

BronsArchitectuur· 2022

Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum

by Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye

Client: Vrap

A' Design Award in Brons Winner in Architectuur Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #128207

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Colors

The Design

About Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum

Een verwoest stenen huis aan de ingang van het dorp werd gekozen als locatie voor het gemeenschapsactiviteitencentrum. De ontwerpuitdaging is om zoveel mogelijk behoud van de oorspronkelijke structuur en het realiseren van nieuwe functies mogelijk te maken. Op het terrein blijven twee bestaande bomen behouden, rondom de bomen is een met stalen buizen ondersteunde trap aangelegd, die naar een nieuw platform leidt dat tevens dienst doet als entree naar de tweede verdieping. Het project, gebouwd tijdens de pandemie, werd voornamelijk door de lokale bevolking voltooid via een participatief proces van de gemeenschap met low-tech methoden.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in Brons

Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum is winnaar van de A' Design Award in Brons, een hoogst prestigieuze erkenning die wordt toegekend aan uitstekende ontwerpen die zich onderscheiden door creativiteit, vindingrijkheid en scherpzinnigheid. Winnaars in Brons zijn ruimschoots vaardige en opvallend creatieve artefacten die de grote ervaring, verbeelding en het vernuft van hun ontwerpers bevestigen. Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum wordt verwacht een hooggewaardeerd, bewonderd en gekoesterd object te zijn dat opmerkelijk professioneel en innovatief is. Dit ontwerp dat de A' Design Award in Brons heeft gewonnen, verwerkt de beste praktijken in kunst, wetenschap, ontwerp en technologie en is uitstekend door zijn aandacht voor detail. Stone White Dorpsactiviteitencentrum bevredigt schitterend behoeften, raakt verlangens, charmeert gevoelens en spreekt de nieuwsgierigheid aan.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The activity center for villagers was built during epidemic time, mainly by the locals through community participatory process with low-tech methods. A balance is achieved between built and preserved, specificity and generality, immediacy and evolutionary instinct. The objective is to build open public infrastructure, by reusing the existing traces and imagining their future development. It's a matter of reading the richness of a specific context in order to plan new rurality, capable of stimulating both villagers and out comers.
Dimensions & Packaging: preserved stone wall with thickness of 400mm; light steel structure as main structure to strengthen the existing stone wall and support the new white house above, main column with the dimension of 100mm*100mm; steel tubes with different diameters 30mm,40mm and 50mm are used as an alternative supporting system for stairs and platform.
Tags: regeneration, rural design, stone, tree house, community center, light steel structure
Production Technology: preserved stone wall with thickness of 400mm; light steel structure as main structure to strengthen the existing stone wall and support the new white house above; steel tubes with different diameters 30mm,40mm and 50mm are used as an alternative supporting system for stairs and platform.
Design Challenge: It is difficult to calculate how much steel we need to use to strengthen the existing stone wall and it is difficult to calculate whether we have used enough metal tubes to support the stair and platform. Both the structure is informal, which can only be tested on the site by doing a mock-up. Intelligent reuse and demolishing of the stone wall is also a challenge.
Research: We are trying to achieve a delicate balance between strategy and form, built and preserved, rigor and freedom, specificity and generality, immediacy and evolutionary instinct. The objective is to build open public infrastructures, by reusing the existing traces and imagining their future development. In short, it's a matter of reading the richness of a specific context in order to plan rural culture buildings, capable of stimulating both villagers and out comers.
Inspiration: The activity center for villagers was arranged at the entrance of the community during the regeneration of Feiyue Village, calling for reusing the ruin site of a stone house. The design comes up with the challenge that how to intelligently preserve the original structure and build on the existing traces. A new light-structured white house therefore was designed to rise above the heavy stone walls. Two trees are kept on the site, embraced by steel-tube-supported stairs, give a guide to the new platform above the originals.
Project Duration: The design started in May 2019 and finished in November 2019 in Beijing. The construction of the project started in November 2019 and finished in October 2020 in Feiyue Village, Qichun County, Hubei Province.
Operation Flow: It was built during epidemic time, mainly built by the local villagers through a community participatory process with low-tech methods. Since few people can be found from outside for construction during that special time and same for the transportation of construction materials. Despite of essential light steel structure, we used the metal tubes with different diameters 30mm,40mm and 50mm as an alternative supporting system, which was one of the most economical materials and easy for handcraft.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Minjie Si, 2021
Team Members: Design Team: Minjie Si, Weixiong Jiang, Xue Li, Xuejiao Li, Xinfei Guo
Construction & Manage Team: Xianfeng Ye, Zulong Zheng
Image Credits: Image 1: Photographer Minjie Si, "Stone White" and the Vernacular Surroundings, 2021
Image 2: Photographer Minjie Si, Feiyue Village, 2021
Image 3: Photographer Minjie Si, Aerial View of "Stone White", 2021
Image 4: Photographer Minjie Si, White House above the Preserved Stone Wall, 2021
Image 5: Photographer Minjie Si, Tree Staris, 2021