Guizhou Longtang Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Longtang village is located in Leishan County, southeast Guizhou Province. The unsophisticated Miao villagers have lived here for generations, following the simple and natural mode of life. However, Longtang, which is included in the list of traditional Chinese villages, gradually declined due to the decline of industrial development and hollow of the population, which led a large number of villagers to seek employment opportunities outside.

Photography by © Arch-Exist

Based on the comprehensive experience of line + in the field of rural revitalization, Sunac China and the Youcheng Foundation of the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office jointly entrust line + to go deep into Longtang and reshape the village.

The construction area of the project is 2400 m², including 1650 m² of incremental building and 750 m² of an existing building for renovation, the incremental part of which is composed of 8 single buildings of guestrooms and restaurants, Cliff Theater, Infinity Pool, and other public areas, with the construction of hiking trails and landscape restoration, so as to drive life and production lines of the whole village as well as the future development of the cultural and tourism industry streamline.

Photography by © Arch-Exist

Respecting the history and embracing the future – create a demonstration of residential reconstruction for villagers in the Scenery Conservation Area; outside the Scenery Conservation Area, set a boutique homestay with a sense of contemporary and futuristic but without losing the core of the natural spirit of stilted buildings – achieving the parallel design of inventory and incremental buildings. While improving the quality of villagers’ life, line+ tries to connect the thread of settlement and culture of the Miao Village, bringing flux and vitality to the poor villages hidden in the mountains, and activating the self-energizing ability of the villages.

Photography by © Arch-Exist

“Response and General” – Existing Buildings Reconstruction. The renovation is based on the in-depth study of the traditional stilted buildings at a cost similar to that of the villagers’ spontaneous renovation and meets the villagers’ lifestyle and personal demands. We hope the design strategy which not only solves the problem but also maintains the cost unchanged can become a model for villagers to rebuild their own houses and protect the local context.

After the renovation, fifteen local villagers took this as a model to carry out their own house renovation, achieving a point-to-face exemplary promotion, and the self-rejuvenation from invasion to a restoration that responds to needs.

Photography by © Arch-Exist

“Growth and Dialogue” – New Buildings. Mountain House is born on the ridge like the traditional stilts. In resolving the height difference, the design renders a guest room settlement that does not interfere with each other’s sight. The location and the Scenery Conservation Area are separated but overlook each other as if the past and the future of the Miao Village echo each other.

During the construction of the guestroom buildings, there is no opposition between light and heavy, but mutual achievement. Due to the difficulty of site construction, we originally planned to express the lightness of the building through the prefabrication of steel structure. However, under limited cost conditions and after communicating with local construction personnel, we finally changed it to a heavy but inexpensive reinforced concrete structure.

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The building volume floats on a mountain slope of nearly 45°. Contemporary materials such as glass and metal plates are used together with local materials such as rubble, blue tiles, and wood. With the building volume separated from the foundation and the material texture integrated into the forest, the “heavy” of the building structure is eliminated.

The public building of Mountain House breaks through the traditional rural building styles, trying to create a refined and pure modern sense to dialogue with the mountains. The building is naturally divided into two L-shaped volumes according to the height differences with the mountain. They are connected and interlocked with each other. The upper part is protruding towards the distant mountain, and the lower part leads to the slope. According to the mountain shape, a flowing boundary is formed, embedded in the mountain and forest, with an abstract dialogue with the traditional Miao Village.

Photography by © Arch-Exist

Considering the mountain conditions and the complex construction process of the curved surfaces, the main building adopts a steel structure system, whose exterior is wrapped with metal aluminum panels, and the interior and indoor interfaces leave a cavity to fill with lightweight thermal insulation and waterproof materials. The whole structure is processed in the factory and hoisting is completed on-site. The construction is simple and fast, and the transportation is convenient and safe. This choice also fully addresses the lack of precision in rural site construction and the complex conditions of mountain construction.

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Targeted Poverty Alleviation under Value Overflow. Construction is not an overnight process. Rural revitalization is a vision that can only be achieved through the joint efforts of multiple parties. line+ joins the front line of poverty alleviation from the perspective of an architect and copes with the practical problems arising from the underdevelopment of the traditional Miao village. With the demonstration effect of the inventory buildings and driven by the incremental buildings, the intuitive needs were addressed within geographical and economic constraints, and the village was energized so that it can renew itself and develop in an orderly manner in the transformation to modern new lifestyles.

Photography by © Arch-Exist

Project Info:
Architects: gad·line+ studio
Location: Longtang Village, Leishan County, Guizhou, China
Area: 2400 m²
Project Year: 2020
Photographs: Arch-Exist