Gaobu Book House in China by Condition_Lab

Article source: Condition_Lab 

A children’s library for a dong minority rural village.

The Gaobu Book House serves the 2,500 people of Gaobu Village, one of the Dong minority villages in China. Like many other Chinese villages, Gaobu Village is challenged by “village-hollowing” in which the working-age population migrate. The Dong Minority community of China possess a unique cultural heritage rooted in land and customs.  After surviving hundreds of years, modernization today poses a serious threat to Dong’s identity.

Rather than accepting urban migration as a given, this project aims to restore dignity and induce development by proposing a small children’s library project.  Playing and curiosity come natural to children, hence our design generates an “active” architecture that allows children to engage and absorb knowledge through playing.

Bird View of Gaobu Book House in the Village, Image Courtesy © Peter W Ferretto

• Architects: Condition_Lab (Condition_Lab / School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
• Project: Gaobu Book House
• Location: Gaobu Village, Tongdao County, Hunan Province, China
• Photography: Leon Xu Liang
  
• Lead Architects: Prof. Peter W. Ferretto (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Prof. Ling Cai (Guangzhou University)
  
• Design Team: (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Paula Liu Ziwei, Milly Lam Man Yan, Beryl Wong Yuk Tsin, Sungyeol Choi
  
• Building Area: 200 sq.m
• Time of Completion: 2018/12/15

Gaobu Book House is located next to the Primary School. Children spend their breaks in the Book House, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

A Timber House

Every Dong building follows a set of unwritten rules which are interpreted by the carpenter and adapted according to the site.  This process establishes a sort of architectural genetic code where no two buildings are the same, yet belong to a common language.  Our design takes the traditional Dong house “Ganlan” as the creative starting point, where local timber is used for the framing which is adapted and reconfigured as to accommodate different programmatic and spatial configurations.  This spatial subversion generates a building that at first glance appears traditional, however on closer inspection, new unconventional relationships emerge.  By working within the system, materiality and craftsmanship inject new life back into the village.

Opening Ceremony of Gaobu Book House, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

Overall View of Gaobu Book House in the Village, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

A House of Stairs

Having witnessed how stairs become a key architectural element in Dong daily life, a place where people usually congregate around and where children love to play, stairs became the generating idea of the building. The library becomes a dynamic circulation and programmatic vessel for villages to interact.  While children are playing they can also stop and read books, rather than a chore, reading becomes fun.

Most children within Gaobu are raised by their grandparents until the age of ten when they are forced, due to lack of facilities, to leave and study in nearby towns. Educational facilities such as schools and libraries are scarce, hence our idea was to offer an educational incubator, a house for children to learn through playing.

The Book House is opened with no door, children can visit it with grandparents anytime, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

All other walls are made up of bookshelves, with 12 different educational topics, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

The 200m² timber 2-story structure revolves around a central stair that acts both as a means of circulation and identity of the building.  The ground floor is conceived as a covered open space for public gatherings and local exhibitions, while each wall of the above house is dedicated to a specific educational theme. The internal spaces become rooms where people can engage in classes and public events while the stairs acts as reading area.  By activating the façade through the design of the stairs, the building becomes a dynamic vessel for villagers to interact with rather than static object building devoid of life.  At a time when the digital world seems to have embraced all facets of contemporary society, books offer the children of Gaobu a means to dis-connect and dream about their future.

The Book House is opened with no door, children can visit it with grandparents anytime, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

Children could sit on the staircase to read books in the Book House, Image Courtesy © Arthur Wong

Main facade of Gaobu Book House, made with translucent polycarbonate panels to let light get into the library space, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

The central staircase acts as the main circulation and seating space as well, Image Courtesy © Leon Xu Liang

Construction of Gaobu Book House in progress, Image Courtesy © Peter W Ferretto

Image Courtesy © Milly Lam Man Yan

Image Courtesy © Milly Lam Man Yan

Image Courtesy © Milly Lam Man Yan

Image Courtesy © Milly Lam Man Yan

Image Courtesy © Milly Lam Man Yan

Image Courtesy © Milly Lam Man Yan

Tags: China

Category: Book Store

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