March 2018 – Insitu Project

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MXS MiaoXia Village Survey 2017

Miaoxia village, once home to over 500 people now houses 150 inhabitants. Built during the late Ming Dynasty it comprises of a series of courtyard houses, some with sophisticated woodcarvings that reveal social status. The predominance of wooden buildings – some over 120 years old having withstood many earthquakes – are witness to a declining tradition of wood craftsmanship skills; the village formerly known for its expertise in carpentry. No survey or historical records exist for this village, so the survey outlines the primary wooden building stock.

Using a local tool to remove spider webs from structures to be surveyed.

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MXW3 MiaoXia Narrative Workshop 2017

Miaoxia Narrative Design Workshop, the third workshop held in Miaoxia was held in summer 2017. It made present the hidden intangible myths, legends, beliefs and everyday stories through the making of films and narratives. The investigation and mapping of local habits, and reinterpretation into the semi-fictional films aimed to trigger understanding and new ideas about the life of the village. These were narrated into four three minute films These films engaged villagers as storytellers, actors and willing participants in the films.

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MX02 MiaoXia Community Guesthouse 2017

The Miaoxia Village Community Guesthouse and social enterprise completed in 2017 was constructed through a participatory design process. The renovation of an existing house and construction of a new extension accommodating 20 people, provides six guest bedrooms, training spaces for disaster preparedness, a social workers office, a tea room, activity spaces for children’s play and study, as well as bathroom and laundry amenities in a total of 250m². Generous external bridges and deck spaces provide spaces of delight, informality and community are integrated into the overall design to contribute to place-making and flexible usage. The guesthouse run as a cooperative venture to provides revenue for the villagers, permits visitors to stay overnight or longer and to engage in other activities in the village. It also forms part of a community waste management system.

Mirroring elevations of the existing and the new built.

Structural frame erection, involving local builders, villagers, students and social workers.

06/03/201809/04/2020

MX01 MiaoXia Community Kitchen 2015

The Miaoxia Village Community Kitchen, a cross-disciplinary research project, implemented a community kitchen and social enterprise in 2015. The collaboration developed ‘software’ through Action Research (local understanding, dialogue and engagement; social systems and services) and ‘hardware’ through the applied research methodology of Participatory Design processes (design process, constructed spaces, capacity development and skill extension), involving over 100 participants. The resulting kitchen enables larger events to be catered for including festivals, weddings and visiting groups, and generates revenue for the villagers. It fosters positive change in the village, activating skills, self-organising capacities and higher levels of community cohesion.