Page 76 - Designing Ways 247
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XiangyuXiangyuan


                                   Home Stay



                                          Xiamen, China




               outhern Fujian, located on the southeast coast of China, is the
               starting point of the “Maritime Silk Road” in history, and has
           Sbeen an important maritime transportation hub since ancient
            times. Convenient geographical location is conducive to business
            exchanges with many surrounding regions and countries, so it has
            accumulated a strong economic foundation and is deeply influenced
            by foreign cultures. Accordingly, Southern Fujian culture is a mix of
            traditional Chinese farming culture and foreign cultural influences.
            This rich and diverse cultural connotation is also fully reflected in its
            architecture, with very distinctive regional characteristics.

            The project is located in Dazhai Village, Xiang’an District, Xiamen.
            Dazhai Village has more than 800 years of history and sits adjacent
            to  mountains  and seas,  on  flat  terrain.  New  LinkSo  has become
            the heritage point of the traditional culture of southern Fujian and
            the gathering place of traditional houses. Nowadays, affected by
            globalisation of the economy and the construction of modern cities
            and cultures, the traditional houses in Dazhai Village are disappearing
            day by day. In response, the question of how to use traditional old
            buildings as carriers for retaining the rural memories of Southern   Handrail wrapped with straw rope
            Fujian, while reactivating its quaint villages through the power of   Photo credit: k·bphoto
            design, has become a topic of time and locality.
                                                                    XiangyuXiangyuan Home Stay
            Xiangyu Xiangyuan B&B is composed of two parts, the old and the   Photo credit: k·bphoto
            new. The old part is a traditional house with a century-old history
            that has been carefully transformed into the core space of the
            entire building. The new part is a contemporary architectural style
            composed of steel, glass, and brick. The new and old parts collide
            and blend, revealing the designer’s thoughts on the transformation
            of rural old buildings and the regeneration of abandoned resources.

            These traditional buildings typically represent traditional dwellings
            in Southern Fujian. The main structures of the buildings are mostly
            Chinese  traditional  wooden  frames,  with  building  façades  of  red
            bricks and red tiles, and “Yingshan” style roofs (a traditional Chinese
            building type for roofs). Both ends of the roof curve slightly upward,
            using light and flexible “swallowtail” methods.

            These original traditional buildings have collapsed to varying degrees.
            The collapsed part of building No. 1 is the first half of the building and
            the west side room of the atrium. The cornerstone on the west side
            is irregular. The designer uses a compromise design in the collapsed
            area. A simple geometric building was built in the collapsed area
            to form a fusion with traditional architecture. The simple and pure
            geometry endows the old building with enough support and also
            highlights the readability of the traditional building.

            The collapsed location of building No. 2 is the hall and the front half
            of the kitchen. The original wooden roof frame has almost collapsed,
            and there is a nearly collapsed gate. The two side rooms in the middle
            have  also  collapsed.  The  designer  directly  used steel  structures  in
            the hall and the left room to support the original wooden structure.



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