Deqian Village Hall & Hotel

Qinghai, China

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Deqian Village Hall & Hotel

Qinghai, China

Firm

Bounds Plan

Type

Hospitality + Sport › Hotel
Government + Health › Community Center

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2023

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$1M - 5M

Deqian Village Hall & Hotel is a philanthropic project organized by China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD). It is planned to benefit the village through revenue sharing, employment of laborers, facilities, and activities.

The project was constructed on the site of an abandoned, collapsed village house. It includes accommodation rooms, a restaurant, a library, a clubhouse, and a public hall.

Getting Along With the Village

Through design decisions on volume, space, and materials, the architects hope to buffer the formal conflict between the new building and the vernacular and, more importantly, to reconcile the differences in lifestyles between guests and villagers.

The Volume: Resolving Conflicts

The brief requires a volume of 3,000 square meters, while the site was a conventional homestead that usually accommodates 300 to 400 square meters. The difference in building density itself could easily bring about a form conflict.

Our design splits the building into a clustered form. The dislocations in plan and the drops in section scale the volume down. Refers to the neighboring vernacular houses (a type known as "Zhuangkuo庄阔"), the building" units" we designated to square plans.

The Space: Supporting Coexistence

Guests' experience in this building is composed of two parts: “viewing” and “participating”. While the" viewing" part is quite straightforward with the beautiful landscape, the“participating” part is more intricate. Our ambition is to create a public space where both guests and villagers can feel relaxed, and daily.

While ensuring privacy in most parts of the building, we also placed an open hall space that is shared with the villagers. They could be sitting around, chatting, reading, surfing the web, having meetings, or simply observing visitors…… The space has a telescopic view of the village scenery, which we believe will strengthen the sense of belonging.

We hope the coexistence of villagers and visitors/guests can be supported by space, and the exchange of observations, ideas, curiosities, and jokes…… could flow between the two groups. In that way, the meaning of this building could be more profound.

The Material: Co-constructing Community

The exterior of the building is constructed of an upper wood-molded concrete cornice, a lower rammed earth plinth, and a middle part of glass and wood. The rammed-earth wall, which carries the greatest visual weight, is a direct reference to the neighboring vernacular houses: the soil used, the workmanship, and the construction team are identical to them, with only an additional layer of interior wall structure and some improved details. The earth wall has many imperfections, but to the villagers, it's familiar, everyday, and thus intimate. Intimacy is vital for a project aiming to bring a community together.

Eternity and Change

The field in which this building lies obtains a spirit of eternity, which is a very important context we respond to. But it is the urge for change that motivates the project.

Through volume and material usage, we make the new building harmonious with the context and approachable to the local villagers. More importantly, we hope spaces like the open hall could encourage changes. We believe that, apart from generating revenue and employment, it's also important to strengthen the local community and incentivise communications.

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Deqian Village Hall & Hotel

Qinghai, China

Deqian Village Hall & Hotel

Qinghai, China

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team