Article source: guanzhu LA

Phoenix Village, the regeneration of abandoned village

Located in Shandong province Rizhao city in China, Phoenix Villages is a rural overall construction project, and a hollow village regeneration practice. It was designed and built by Kong Xiangwei with his Guanzhuscape design team all the way. The village was originally called Du jiaping, which was a typical stone-made settlement in southeastern Shandong. In the process of urbanization, the village is abandoned, most of the old houses are collapsed, and more than a dozen old houses are left. Phoenix villages are positioned as a Rural Art District overall, including B&B hotels and artist studios, and contain cultural space such as forest art gallery, water theater, hilltop church, hillside garden, library and museum. It also includes recreational space such as teahouse, café, restaurant, and children’s commune, and it has left an area to create an old-house museum.

 The overall design concept: the combination of protection and regeneration. Retaining the relics, old buildings and trees, adding bold new elements into them, and keeping the texture of the street and courtyard. In the use of materials, they use warm yellow old stones, concrete and weathering steel plates from the collapsed old houses to pursue the authenticity of materials; as for the landscape, they use old materials, and plant weeds; they use modern language as the spatial and architectural language.

Image Courtesy © Kong Xiangwei, Cheng Xuefeng and Wang Ziyi

• Architects: guanzhu LA
• Project: The Phoenix Village of Artistic Countryside
• Location: Nanhu Town, Rizhao City, Shandong Province, China
• Photography: Kong Xiangwei, Cheng Xuefeng and Wang Ziyi
• Overall Design and Construction: Guanzhuscape Planning and Design Institute
• Chief Designer: Kong Xiangwei
• Design Team: Li Guodong, Liu Yulong, Wang Wen, Lin Licong, Teng Xin, Xu Jingan, Wang Ziyi, Zheng Yakai, Pang Liangliang, Xiao Tianyan
• Design Period: March 2015 – August 2017
• Construction Period: August 2015 -December 2017

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