Jinghong is the capital city of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, where is at the southern part of Yunnan province; unlike other regions of China, this Dai Autonomous Prefecture region is with the classic tropical rainy climate, which the whole year is divided into the rainy season and dry season.
The project site is at the south end of Rongling Avenue, Jinghong city. It is surrounded by rolling hills and facing a local river; from the site,people can have far look into the Lanchangjiang River. The extraordinary landscape resource gives the site a unique advantage.
Expressing the local culture under the context of modern
The local people, Dai nationality, is heavily connected to ‘water’. According to the previous field research, ‘local buildings and activities are always beside the river or pond’ is one of the most significant scenarios of local life. Therefore, architects chose to reinterpret this relationship by shaping the architectural volume and space.
The layout of architecture is L shape; it is enclosing the water yard with other three detaching small constructions. By applying ambulatory and ultra clear glasswall, the scene of water yard can penetrate into the interior space.
Reinterpretation of traditional architectural form
Due to the unique atmosphere of Xishuangbanna, the local buildings have chosen to apply what is called ‘Ganlan’ architectural form. Regarding the exhibition hall, the suspending L shape ambulatory provides maximum eyesight while adjusting to the local atmosphere.
In terms of the architectural form, architects learned from the local building and continued developing it. By re-constituting the local architectural symbols, architects represented the building traditions via modern materials and build-ways.
Like the local Dai buildings, the exhibition hall is suspending to theground. It can both protect against moisture and adjust to the mountainousterrain.
The folding tile roof brings about generalization and concretization. It also blends in the general form of local buildings, which are with pinnacle, and drains away water while heavy rain.
The application of curtain wall and steel inclined strut is the media to rebuild the relationship between region, architecture and humanity.
Remote intervention
During the construction progress, long distance between site and architect team had brought about massive difficulties in terms of, especially, quality control. In order to overcome it, remote video communication had become one of the important ways to allow architect team to intervene in the construction progress.
General Imformation
Project name: Vanke Xishuanbanna Cultural Center
Architect’ Firm: JANSON XIAN ARCHITECT+ASSOCIATES(XAA)
Lead Architects: Tao Zhan
Design Team:Wang Tian、Mengyu Wang、Chao Wu
Project location: south end of Rongling Avenue, Jinghong city, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture
Gross Built Area (square meters): 1100㎡
Photo credits:Changheng Zhan 、Chao Wu、Here Space Photography
Other participants :
Structure:JiZhunFangZhong
landscape:GAIA STUDIO
interior:ENJOY DESIGN