In -Bamboo
Chongzhou, China
The project we completed is a multi-functional rural community cultural center with provisions for exhibitions, hosting conferences, community gathering, as well as dining and recreation. It integrates the site with the surrounding villages and with the natural ecology. The project also explores the interaction of the city with new rural construction. It practices the integration of new construction technology with local craft. The project integrates traditional construction techniques with prefabricated industrialization.
The gestural interweaving roof is a construction of many prefabricated parts delivered to the site ready for quick assembly. The Mobius-shaped roof is supported by a 70% light prefabricated steel frame and finished with traditional ceramic tiles. The high efficiency afforded by pre-fabricating components made the 52-day construction period of this complex geometry possible.
The relationships of inside & outside, bamboo & tile and new & old are all able to be experienced in the “infinite（∞）shape” of the roof. The new definition offered for traditional paradigms and the rethinking of rural & urban issues provide a lens for thinking about the meaning of architecture in the present time.
