Design philosophy: Soil can bury ideals, but also nurture hopes. We try to record the people who were working hard on the land during a special period of time in China (roughly between 1955 and 1966), the poems reflecting their thoughts and the souls comforted by the poems.
Project Overview: With a typical rural landscape pattern in China that “mountains account for 80%, waters account for 10% and farmland accounts for 10%”, the Yuantian Village of Taiba Town in Shanghang County of Fujian Province is one of the traditional historic villages in China and one of the cradles of Chinese misty poetry. The construction project has been launched to improve the surroundings of the Tourist Center of Yuantian Village, bring alive the local history with rich poetry elements and reveal the relationship between land and people in an artistic fashion.
Project background: With a typical rural landscape pattern in China that “mountains account for 80%, waters account for 10% and farmland accounts for 10%”, the Yuantian Village of Taiba Town in Shanghang County of Fujian Province is one of the traditional historic villages in China and one of the cradles of Chinese misty poetry. (In 1950s, a lot of educated youth went to the mountainous and rural areas, when Shu Ting arrived at Yuantian Village and wrote many well-known poems there.) With the serious hollowing out of the rural areas in recent years, China has introduced a policy of rural revitalization, as the construction of characteristic villages is flourishing.
Original conditions: There is concrete pavement without drainage facility, and a lack of design features and cultural elements.
Design objectives: Under the policy of rural revitalization, the project will carry on the cultural legacy of the historic village, protect the ecological environment, reveal the characteristics of the site and boost the local tourism industry.
In order to solve these issues, first, we have sorted out the space of the site and set five functional area, including an ecological parking lot, a cultural exhibition area at the entrance, a functional area at the reception center, a cultural exhibition area, and a cultural exhibition area at the Lingxiao Pavilion.
Second, we have designed three artistic landscape walls. The first wall at the entrance is an “earthen wall”: with the fair-faced concrete cast based on an old door panel as the background, a row of shovels and spades are placed at its top and bottom respectively to imply the “round heaven and square earth”. The winnowing basket is inscribed with the characters “Poetic Yuantian”. This wall is intended to explore the relationship between land and people and inspire the public to reflect on the land. The second artistic landscape wall is a “water wall”: the passage of time is like the water flow of a river. There is a long scroll unfolded in the form of negative films on the left, with images of the educated youth working, learning and living at that time printed on the films, which have grown from vagueness to clarity following the course of history. In the cabinet on the right are displayed old objects passed down from that time such as grain coupons, work notes, diaries, books and music scores of Chinese operas. Like the section of a tree ring, they allow you to have a glimpse of life at that time and reproduce the historic memory of the site as the birthplace of the misty poetry. The third landscape wall is a “fire wall”: Some typical poems of the misty poetry are imprinted on the old door panels collected locally, with some burned marks left on them, which stand for the years of burning youth and passion and reflect the poetic traits of the site.
Third, the relationship of Lingxiao Pavilion with the site is highlighted. The Tourist Center is near the Lingxiao Pavilion. When you head for the village from the Tourist Center, you will see a delightful contrast between the pavilion and the idyllic scenery of the historic village and the green mountains in the distance. A landscape wall in the form of a trimmed old photo has framed the Lingxiao Pavilion, with a brief introduction to the pavilion on the right, where tourists can pose for a photo with the natural idyllic scenery of the village.
IV. The selection of materials and plants. Local materials like cobblestones and blue bricks are used to pave large areas of floors. The parking lot is built with permeable materials like sand gravel to ensure its sponge-like ecological function. As to vegetation, local tree species such as Cinnamomun camphcra, Camellia sasanqua and Rhododendron pulchrum are grown.
Social effects: The renovation project has been well-received among the tourists and locals, become an industrial exhibition platform of rural revitalization for the county’s official survey, and formed a demonstrative effect, bringing some new ideas for boosting the rural revitalization and development of cultural tourism.
Location:Yuantian Village, Taiba Town, Shanghang County, Longyan, Fujian Province
Design year:2022
Year Completed:2023
