Earth-Dwelling Yuanyang

“Dwelling on Earth” is undoubtedly one of the most eternal subjects confronting human beings. Even with SpaceX’s aspiration of making human civilization multi-planetary, the ultimate goal remains about reaching and making other planets dwell-able just like our earth. Earth, for our ancestors, contemporaries, and future generations alike, means also one of the most basic and sustainable materials for building.

The terraced rice fields and villages in Yuanyang are among the most inspiring examples of earth-dwelling. Here we could rediscover the miraculous equilibrium between architecture, agriculture and nature, the continuity between artificial and natural landscape, and the sustainable integration of local eco/water systems into human settlements and agricultural production. The boundless rice paddy terraces carved out of mountains and clusters of dwellings embedded in them are entirely made of earth and local materials.

Despite their UNESCO World Heritage status, the villages and rice terraces of Yuanyang are facing multiple challenges: the environmental pressure imposed by expanding tourism, poverty alleviation, shrinking local youth population, and the familiar conflict between conservation and revitalization.

The studio will undertake the challenge of designing a series of projects related to the subject of earth-dwelling, either as a new prototype of local homes or to investigate possibilities of creating community spaces and infrastructures, as catalysts of local economy and social interactions to enhance the living / co-living conditions of various ethnic minority communities in the area.

Departing from research on vernacular farmhouses and layouts of local settlements and analyzing problems and potentials of the given sites, students will make conceptual designs in the first 2-3 weeks – finalizing the site selections and program proposals (e.g. a farmhouse prototype, a community library, a rice-wine distiller, a rice-noodle factory, a tofu workshop and visitor center, or a hostel) during a field trip to Beijing and Yuanyang.

Following the studio trip, students will revise and further develop their concepts and designs. Projects will be reviewed in small-scale conceptual models and later in large-scale material studies or detail mockups.

The first day of classes, Tuesday, September 3rd, is held as a MONDAY schedule at the GSD. As this course meets on Tuesday, the first meeting of this course will be on Wednesday, September 4th. It will meet regularly thereafter.