House for All Seasons

Shijia Village Research and House Prototype

Rural Urban Framework (RUF)

Research Assistant (Core design team member)

Year out experience: 2011.08~2012.07

Supervisor: John Lin, Crystal Kwan (Project manager)

Winner, AR House Award, Architecture Review 2012

2nd Place, Project of the Year, European Union and Architecture of Israel

Certificate of Excellence, Perspective Awards, Perspective Magazine

http://www.rufwork.org/index.php?/project/07-shanxi-village-house/

Shijia Village is located in the northwestern province of Shaanxi, in a mountainous area near the city of Xian. The project examines the idea of the vernacular village house and proposes an alternative, contemporary prototype. The project promotes a more sustainable alternative with rammed earth, bio-gas, rainwater storage and reed bed cleansing systems.

All the houses in Shija Village are originally of mud brick construction and occupy a plot of the same configuration: 10 m x 30 m. Villagers gradually renovate and build upon the courtyard typology, traditional elements fused with new brick and concrete buildings. Apart from the identically defined boundary, no two houses are alike. Each of us (ten students) took one family to carry on a interview and document their houses. Collectively compile a portrait of the modern Chinese village house: a portrait not only of building types but of a lifestyle in transition.