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Revival of Pingtian Village in Songyang County Sun, et al.

As the owner and also a villager, Mr. Jiang is different scales on the roofs bring light into
an important figure in the renovation of the interior, which improves the lighting
Pingtian Village. The planning, design, conditions of traditional buildings. The
construction, and operation of the project are Courtyard Restaurant designed by Professor
all supported by the owner. Mr. Jiang took Weijen Wang, ingeniously raised the roof by
tenures of 18 old houses in the village, one-meter, folded part of the roof to form
provided suitable construction sites, and skylights, and partially added some small-
communicated with the government. At the scale steel structures and corner windows.
beginning of the project, Mr. Jiang This delicate method properly protects the
communicated with the planning team traditional style of the building.
throughout the process, and jointly decided to The Muxiang Caotang Guesthouse
determine the renovation plan of the village. designed by Professor Maoyan Xu retains the
The solution to the lack of construction exterior facade of the house and uses wooden
experience with modern materials in the materials to renovate the interior. In the
village was also due to Mr. Jiang’s timely original plan, he hoped to add an entrance
communication, as an intermediary between porch and a roofed balcony on the gable to
the designer and the construction team. After improve interactivity between the guesthouse
about two years of planning and construction, and the outdoor public space. This plan was
the final renovation showed a better result. As opposed by the government. The government
the operator, Mr. Jiang led the villagers to had two considerations: the first consideration
participate in the operation of the village by was of the authenticity of the traditional
hiring them and purchasing agricultural architecture; the second was that the
products, helping the villagers to improve government was worried such changes would
their living standards and local identity, and lead to uncontrollable imitation by other
truly realizing the revitalization and residents, which might cause huge damage to
development of the village. the historic village style of Songyang. Both
sides finally compromised, although the
2.1 Development and contradiction balcony and porch of Muxiangtang were built,
The 18 renovated buildings were mainly the interior and the balcony were not
residential buildings. In order to meet the connected, which was equivalent to attaching
modern needs of new functions, there will a porch to the gable of the old building.
inevitably be a contradiction between the The Papa’s Hostel, designed by
protection and renovation of traditional Professor Wei He, has sparked a heated
buildings. The county government’s debate. Professor He chose Mr. Jiang’s
proposition is to preserve the traditional grandfather’s old house for renovation. He
appearance as much as possible and protect hopes to provide an accommodation space for
the authenticity of traditional villages. From those young people who come here to paint,
the architect’s point of view, it is necessary to and also to increase the diversity of
make small-scale changes to show the architectural functions in Pingtian Village
contrast between the old and the new, and among many guesthouses, so the function of
better meet the needs of comfort. As for the this building was set as a youth hostel. At the
owner, he considers more of economic value, same time, Wei He also proposed to dedicate
Mr. Jiang tends to support the designer’s idea. the first floor to the public, the completely
Architect Tiantian Xu chose a destroyed old open first-floor space can be used as a public
house at the entrance of the village and space serving locals and tourists. In the
transformed it into the Pingtian Agriculture renovation plan of Papa’s Hostel, the external
Hall and the Handcraft Workshop. To avoid form of the building is completely preserved,
the damage to the coordination of the village only a long window is opened on the second
facade, the exterior wall is not made with floor to bring sunlight, air, and natural
large window openings. The skylights of scenery into the building. Different from the

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