Xinghua, Jiangsu, China
FREE STUDIO / Arcplus Institute of Shanghai Architectural Design & Research’s Tangzhuang Village Community Center is a government-initiated public welfare project on a rural site, which perfectly fits the vision of bringing back the vitality of the depopulated village established for Tangzhuang.
The Tangzhuang Village Community Center has been recently awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The project is located in Tangzhuang in Xinghua, Jiangsu, whose village is historically known as “Zhaoyang” or “Chushui.”
Being the birthplace of many famous Chinese literati such as Shi Nai’an, the author of Water Margin in Late Yuan, and Zheng Banqiao, the leading figure of “The Eight Monsters of Yangzhou” in Qing, this place has had a rich cultural accumulation since ancient times.
Tangzhuang has a history of one hundred years that develops freely along with the star-covered paddy field river network.
As a catalyst, the community center is a spirited place to foster the villager’s interaction with neighborhoods through architecture and bring back the vitality of the depopulated Tangzhuang.
Meanwhile, the perceivable rich connotation of the place’s historical past is brought into the design details by reproducing the humanistic mood and literati culture of ancient times in a modern context, transforming the project into a cultural building for locals.
The inherent cultural attribute of the village requires the new construction to be rooted in tradition, while still meeting the needs of modern life in the countryside of China.
The village has a linear texture and star-covered paddy fields, which are nested and interwoven into the landscape.
The design abstracts the linear architectural order and overall rhythm with the village texture, setting up multiple courtyards, gable spaces, and alleyways to naturally connect the village.
Through these longitudinal and horizontal linear spaces, public interactions between tourists and villagers, such as communication, rest, and play, are all connected. At the same time, they implant the functions that are missing in the village.
Various functional elements are distributed to every unit, including a cultural exhibition hall, classrooms, recreational activities space, meeting rooms, canteens, stores, tea rooms, medical clinics, and police stations, all accessible to locals as well as tourists.
Traditional construction techniques, such as small green tiles, latticed wooden doors, flower bricks, hollowed-out brick walls, and stacked aprons, are used to build eaves, courtyards, and alleyway spaces.
These Lixiahe dwelling features come together to strengthen a feeling of change while villagers pass through the site and form a unique living atmosphere for the residents that echoes the local humanistic temperament.
Additionally, the two-story wooden building for activities of villagers is partially embedded in the overall structure, which increases the contemporary and natural attributes of the building community.
Coexistence and dialogue between modern technology and traditional construction is the response and strategy to build a direct dialogue between history and contemporaneity.
Today, Tangzhuang Village Community Center has become a kind of “name-card” for the culture and idyllic characteristics of the Lixiahe area, re-establishing the residents’ sense of identity and belonging to the village.
Project: Tangzhuang Village Community Center
Architects: FREE STUDIO丨Arcplus Institute of Shanghai Architectural Design & Research Co., Ltd.
Chief Architect: Shen Yue
Architectural Design Team: Ye Wang, Jiamiao Jiang, and Heng Qiu
Structural Design Team: Wei Li andWeiguo Sheng
Planning and Landscape: Rui Peng, Ting Wen, and Xu Wang
Mechanical and Electrical Design: Rui Peng, Ting Wen, and Xu Wang
General Contractor: Jiangsu Jie Feng Construction Co., Ltd.
Client: Xinghua City Construction Investment Co., Ltd
Photographers: Kun Zhang
