| Yuhu Elementary School and Community Centre in Lijiang, China |
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issue time:2006-06-22 10:24
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The expansion project is both a design as well as research project. It expectantly bears relevance to the understanding of local vernacular architecture of Lijiang through the fundamental comprehension of its environmental, social and building conservation.
Yuhu is a Naxi minority village in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lijiang, ten hours鈥� bus journey North-west of Kunming. On the foothills of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, it is 2,760 metres above sea level and so enjoys a cool-dry climate with cool summer and mild winters. Behind it rise the white peaks of the mountains, dramatically defining the horizon.
The old school was identified in need of expansion in 2001. Funding for the school expansion was received from both Singaporean and Chinese donors as well as from the local community. A villager donated the site above the existing Yuhu Elementary School, beside the former residence of the famed US National Geographic Journalist, Dr Joseph Francis Charles Rock (circa 1922 鈥� 1962). At that point, architect Li Xiaodong and his team studied local traditions, materials, technology and resources and produced a design proposal for the school. The project caters for some 160 students and a cultural activity space for some 1,300 villagers with no less than eight rooms and an exhibition space. The design took on the sustainable basic principle of reinventing vernacular architecture. The project is planned with three small buildings in a 鈥淶鈥� shaped pivoted around an old maple tree. This allowed two open spaces (courtyards) to be created, defined by the blocks: a school courtyard defined by two classroom blocks and agriculture fields; and a more intimate community courtyard defined by a classroom block, a community block and Rock鈥檚 residence boundary wall with water features.
The staircase was designedas a focal point for the community courtyard. It is regarded as a total modern architectural insertion and is designed as a sculptural expression. Its core is to be cast in reinforced concrete, clad in limestone, with steel cantilevered fins to hold timber treads and risers. Compared to the traditional Naxi house, the staircases are usually small and located in a corner of the house. By taking the staircase out of the building, more classroom space was also created.
With the Naxi tenet of the mountains as the backbone and water as the soul of their culture, the design incorporated local stones and water. The most plentiful material in the area is white-colored sedimentary limestone as well as cobblestones. In consideration of material sustainability, Li decided to use it as much as possible, cobblestones for water features and limestone for the rest. Big sliding and casement fenestrations open in clement weather to allow as much light to penetrate as possible. All traditional aesthetic treatments or ornamentations were reduced to their basics: curved roof ridges were straightened, gable end ornamentations simplified into a timber lattice frame inspired by traditional grains racks.
Traditional construction materials and techniques have been carefully married to modern ones. Timber was brought, cut and planed on site to make the structural frame and fenestrations. A structure design challenge was how to allow the buildings to withstand lateral loading in this earthquake zone. The timber frame system harnesses the flexibility allowed by mortise and tenon joints to resist tensional forces during an earthquake. The timber frame structure also meant that the stonewalls are non-loadbearing and are independent of the timber structure. The timber lattice frames at the gable end are also designed to prevent massive collapse of stone gable walls during an earthquake.
Unlike traditional Naxi houses that sit on stone pad foundations, reinforced concrete pad foundation with ground beams were used. Stonewalls were also reinforced with vertical rebars and horizontal wire mesh at regular intervals to resist lateral forces during an earthquake. While the concrete may have been relatively new, compared to traditional mud/lime mortar, the stones and timber were prepared in traditional fashion. New ways of composing and putting together traditional materials create interesting juxtaposition of new and old, reinventing the traditional Naxi house for modern usage.
Awards on the projects:
EDRA Annual Awards Best Design 2004
Ar+D Awards Highly Commended 2005
UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards Jury Commendation for Innovation 2005
ARCASIA Gold Medal 2006
Architect锛歀i Xiaodong
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