Taoranxu Village Fair / Design Center of Haoyuan Group

Curated by 韩双羽 - HAN Shuangyu

Architects: Design Center of Haoyuan Group
Area: 810 m²
Year: 2021
Photographs:Rujia Lin
Lead Architect: Jian Zhang

Text description provided by the architects. The Tianren Shanshui Art Community was built here around 2020, boosting local development and bringing about benefits to the villagers. Locals began to set up stalls across the village, forming a village fair. At the junction of Art Community and the village, a venue was built, where the villagers sell products, wait for the bus in its shade and celebrate events. The venue functions as an open art gallery at the same time.

The site is frequented by both locals and visitors from cities. The touch of nature and local custom should be kept down here. It is so much fun when the visitors bargain with the farmers over local produce. The experience is totally different from the case when they shop in the cold supermarket. Taoranxu serves multiple purposes. The visitors, public events and art salons make it a popular destination. The grey tone in the site goes perfectly with all types of activities.

Following the natural style of the countryside, this building uses a naked concrete frame and keeps the original patterns of the wooden boards. There is no decoration or boundary, creating perfect ventilation and a view of the farmland. The black terra-cotta, industrial fans and steel rails are equally simple and plain. The texture of the materials is in perfect match with the countryside style. With strong visual impact, the building has a curvy facade and rooftop made up of 41 rows of simple, hard and patterned concrete frames. Against the green farmland, mountains and forests, a unique view effect is created.

Much attention is attached to the finished concrete facade. After making extensive attempts among bamboo tubes of different diameters and wooden boards with varied patterns, we decided to use the pinewood. To create rougher effects and get a finished facade with clearer patterns, we carbonized the pine boards. The outcome is satisfactory.

Taoranxu is a productive experiment in terms of rural tourism facility development and co-development with locals. The project goes perfectly with the local climate, culture and stall culture. The natural ventilation design makes the site popular in a region that features hot weather in summer and warm temperatures in winter. The birds and winged insects fly freely around the site. The simple and modern building facade adds an artistic touch to the village. For the village, the building is like a child returning to his hometown after finishing study, and the genuine smile of the villagers. There is a unique artistic temperament in the building.