Stone White Villagers Activity Center by Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye

Stone White Villagers Activity Center by Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award in Moralo wa Meaho, Dikaho le Dibopego Competition Category.

BoronseMeaho· 2022

Stone White Villagers Activity Center

by Minjie Si and Xianfeng Ye

Client: Vrap

Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award Winner in Meaho Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About Stone White Villagers Activity Center

Ntlo ea majoe e senyehileng e sebakeng sa ho kena motseng e ile ea khethoa e le sebaka sa setsi sa mesebetsi ea sechaba. Phephetso ea moralo ke ho amohela paballo ea sebopeho sa mantlha ka hohle kamoo ho ka khonehang le ho kenya mesebetsi e mecha. Lifate tse peli tse teng li bolokiloe setšeng, litepisi tse tšehelitsoeng ka tšepe li ile tsa hahoa ho pota-pota lifate, tse lebisang sethaleng se secha seo hape se sebetsang e le monyako oa mokatong oa bobeli. E hahiloe nakong ea seoa sena, morero ona o ile oa phethoa haholo-holo ke baahi ka mokhoa oa ho kenya letsoho oa sechaba ka mekhoa e tlaase ea theknoloji.

The Recognition

About the Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award

Stone White Villagers Activity Center ke mohapi oa Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award, kananelo e hlomphehang haholo e fuoang meralo e ikhethang e tsejoang ka boqapi, bohlale ba ho qapa le bohlale. Bahapi ba Boronse ke lintho tse nang le bokhoni ka ho felletseng le boqapi bo hlollang tse tiisang boiphihlelo bo bongata, mohopolo le bokhoni ba ho iphumana ba baqapi ba tsona. Stone White Villagers Activity Center e lebelletsoe ho ba ntho e hlomphuoang haholo, e ratoang le e ratehang, e nang le boprofeshenale bo bonahalang le mehopolo e mecha. Moralo ona o hapileng Moputso oa Boronse oa A' Design Award o kenyelletsa mekhoa e metle ka ho fetesisa bonong, mahlaleng, moralong le theknolojing mme o hlahella ka ho tsepamisa maikutlo lintlheng tse nyenyane. Stone White Villagers Activity Center e kutloisisa litlhoko hantle, e ama litakatso, e hapa maikutlo mme e tsosa takatso ea ho tseba.

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