Month: April 2020

Xianniangxi village hall is a cross disciplinary project for the design and construction of a community hall, farmers market, craft workshop and social enterprise. The project includes 5 key village groups, Lugeng Social work station, SD and SZU in collaboration and in participatory design process. The resulting design of around 350m² provides a flexible framework and a big roof under which the various activities take place. Infill of the walls utilizes repurposed waste materials such as bottles, plastics, earth bricks as a means to develop new approaches to environmental management of village waste. This also seeks to initiate possible new enterprises and skill sets in the village. The building is currently awaiting funding.

The community participatory design and making project engaged a large number of villagers in the making of a village square in Xianniangxi village. The square is used as a gathering place for social activities. After discussion the villagers cleared and prepared the chosen space and divided the area into 1.5m squares. As well the villagers gathered unused masonry and collected rover stones. Small teams of villagers and visitors were given the responsibility to make their own pattern and story for their 1.5m square using recycled bricks, tiles and river stones. Individual stories and patterns collectively make the square, and at the same time help to clean up the village.

As an integrated part of Miaoxia guesthouse and community waste treatment system, the guesthouse garden uses the treated nutrient rich wastewater to irrigate an adjacent garden, which will be later planted with fruit trees. The garden was designed and constructed in by Tan Ming with the Miaoxia community participation. Irrigation systems, planter beds, seating and paved areas allow foe guesthouse residents and villagers to use daily. An adjoining square was paved by service-learning students from 4 different areas of Asia working un collaborating with villagers.

Phase 2: Design and construction part 1 of the House of Dreams continues the project of the House of Dreams phase 1 completed in October 2018. Anticipated completion is January 2021. Villagers desires to further explore alternative approach of rural development under the guidance of Liang Jun continued through exploration of training and rural education work, requiring further facility development. These initiatives included over 20 trainings, conferences and workshops to universities, secondary schools, institutions and governments. In May 2019, phase 2 planning began, construction started in September 2019 and it is expected to complete in October 2020. Phase 2 continued the communal participatory design and construction focus adapting further disused caves and providing additional meeting and training facilities. The key focus has been to explore upcycling method as a way of building, mainly using demolished houses as construction material and initiating upcycling home daily waste as part of the building. Phase 2 provides 2 court yards with 8 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and laundry, 1 exhibition space, 1 classroom for 60 people and a shop for local products.

The House of Dreams is a rural development and training base constructed in Zhou Shan village, stage one was completed in 2017. Under the direction of Liang Jun (梁军), who initiated community groups for cultural and social developments in the village since 2002 and together with Dr Ku Hok Bun (APSS), Insitu Project worked with the community on the design of the training centre as a research base in the village. The research base serves the community to consolidate skills and foster community values whilst exploring bottom up develop development methods and approaches in China. As a training centre the facility refocuses and strengthens the village in ways that can allow for training and sharing to other villages, with guesthouse, communal cooking, event spaces and training spaces. Located partly in existing village caves, the project constructed and organized new facilities and amenities as well as public spaces. Insitu Project worked with villagers on site to collect left over building materials, natural material and demolished buildings, to collectively construct the House of Dreams – the villagers chosen name, as these caves are their childhood homes and remain only in their dreams.

Xinyi Natural School was instigated by the Lao He Gou Nature Preservation Centre with In-situ Project in collaboration with the local community. This is an on-going community-based development project aiming at integrated social and natural sustainability. The school is located in Xinyi Valley, a natural preservation and former hunting area in Pingwu County, in north-east Sichuan. The primary construction consisted of meeting hall, kitchen and bathroom was completed in winter 2020. Since March 2019, the design team conducted five visits which included on-site asset-mapping workshops and story oral history gathering, presentation of design options and making 1:1 construction tests. The final frame up process involved over 20 villagers. Working towards low-impact construction has meant that over 50% of building materials are collected within 200 meters radius from the site, including 100% of structure and 30% of log wall (in surface area). A tilted roof allows more daylighting for indoor activities; the log wood wall provides better indoor thermal comfort compared with normal brick wall; Toilet waste will be diverted into septic tank for fertilization of nearby farmland. The new constructed space will be operated as a live in natural education base, it will promote and disseminate conservation and preservation knowledge, promote local culture, knowledge and stories and further generate revenue for community.

The Museum of Everyday Life / School for Handicrafts completed 2019 for the Dong minority community is in Dong Lei village, Hunan Province. The project exhibits local artifacts and provides a space for hosting story telling and cultural exchange events. In-situ with Lvgeng worked with villagers across a series of community engagement events including: surveying local crafting techniques with elderly village women-folk; artifact everyday use and documentation; preparation of a book by village youths who interviewed and documented stories from villager elders; exhibition design with the elder woman-folk; and donation of timber and coordination of carpenters in the construction of the facility. The key achievement of the project was to activate villager participation on many levels, aiding the village cohesion and integration across gender and generation differences.

Zhaizi Rural Development College is an architectural design to provide educational and training spaces in Zhaizi village, Shanxi. Zhaizi village is well-known for its practices of rural cooperative development and serves as an attraction for other villages who seek to learn from its experience. To transform local experiences into further formal education programs, a rural development college was proposed to provide all weather facilities and a centre for education-related activities for up to 200 people. Insitu Project working with the community conducted comprehensive survey works to understand local building materials and technology, brief and programme needs and developed design concepts. During the design process, villagers were invited to provide suggestions among design models. The final design consisted two new buildings with angled roof with an existing building on site, defining a triangle courtyard space. It serves as a multi-functional space for class programs, outdoor activities and traditional rural events.

Hou Tou Street Design project was a participatory and cultural planning workshop for the design of a communal neighborhood street in Zhaizi village. In the collection of memories and imaginations for planning and design of street the workshop consisted of three steps: making models, mapping memories and visioning future. Firstly, the design team invited villagers to collaboratively make a 1:20 street model by completing their own individual house. After making the site model, villagers were encouraged to share their memories about the street life on the model through images and models. Lastly, a serious of design toolkits are provided for villagers to trigger their imagination and display future street space. The workshop generated a 20 meter-length design model, documenting a collective storytelling of over 30 villagers.

The Children’s Activity Space in Beihuanggu village was designed in participation with the local community and Weifang Yuandu Volunteer Service Centre. It converted an underused courtyard house in the village to provide all weather multi-functional community facilities for children gatherings that included study areas, library and play areas for the village. Local stone-mason masters and the Insitu Project team worked on site to explore ways to modify stone architecture to a more open type of space, and source local resources and skills to construct the spaces. The project was completed in January 2018.