Shangping Village Regeneration – Yang’s School Area

Selected as one of the “historical and cultural villages” in Fujian Province, Shangping Villagehas been sustained by its agricultural tradition and Hakkaculture.

There are many provincial-level cultural heritages such as the Tai Fu Tai Mansion, the Yang’s Ancestral Temple, Shezumiao Shrine, Zhaogongmiao Temple, etc. According to the legend, the great scholar Zhu Xi used to give lectures in Shangping and to leave with treasured calligraphy.

Yang’s School Area is located.At the intersection of the two streams in Shang Ping Village where two main trails dispatch from the entrance. That’s the reason of being important geographically.

The design includes a few deserted agricultural buildings, such as utility rooms, cowsheds and barns.The design team hopes to transform the original buildings into a bookstore which provides space for tourists to learn about the history and culture of the village.Meanwhile, it also provide locals, especially children, with a place to get knowledge from the outside world. It is a great opportunity to indicate a well-known Chinese tradition called "Cultivation and reading is to bequeath to the family".

Spatial differences and ‘flaws’ bring about the difficulty of retrofitting these existing spaces. In the mean time, it seems to be a dramatic element for reforming architectural narrative, which is just an interesting moment for the project.By using the characteristics of the original space, the design team defined the new building as a combination of ‘Live and Calm’. 

‘Live’ refers to the sales space in Boostore transformed by utility room. It is relatively active to be here when exchanging books and sales activities happen periodically. Also, cultural products designed by the team are sold at this corner.

In the opposite of the building, the original surface across the stream is a solid wall with a high window on it. However, the landscape is so nice to be seen from the building that designer added a platform inside, on which people enjoy the view.

This design principle maintains the existing relationship between interior and exterior. Thus, when people stay inside, stream is kept invisible for enjoying sound only.

‘Calm’ refer to reading and meditation, named ‘Jing-Ya’. It is transformed from former cowsheds.

The identity of this space, connected but separated from top to bottom, is special to be kept.The lower level enclosed by rubble used to be dark and narrow living space for cow, while narrow wood-made upper level were used for forage. Wood structure seats on rubble part. Two levels are separated spatially (entrance are separated) but connected logically (cow on the bottom eats forage)in function.

Soft versus hard, warm versus cold and new versus old are co-existing in a dramatic space.The second floor was re-defined accordingly: three rooms are integrated into one with an atrium up to half size floor area.

Glass panels are installed over the atrium to create more transparency.The forage room is still designed to be lower in height and must be entered from the outside by a ladder.

Thus, all readers come to here would retrospect the relationship between human, space and nature without any disturbance of modern life.

The requirement of “Being Slow” is also revealed at the hallway. When being here, visitors should walk slowly through it to the other side. This intentionally designed lower space is to indicate a “modest” tradition in China: Bow your head and be in awe. 

A good example is the design of notebooks and bookmarks, with couplets from Mr. Zhu Xi.The Logo of Shang Ping Village were designed with cultural, architectural and agricultural components. Other cultural projects, such as T-shirts and umbrellas, also derived from the logo.