THE WALLS
Teaching Restaurant
for Children, China
Due to ongoing urban migration, China is losing around 300 rural villages per day. Therefore, the development of old traditional villages is done to help preserve the foundation of Chinese culture. Xiamutang, in south-eastern China, is one of those villages and the site where our project was to be set.
Award
Young Talent Architecture Award YTAA 2020 by
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Creative Europe
The project also received an award for ”Best Full-Service Contemporary Architecture Studio” by Build Architecture Awards.
Publications
ArchDaily
Dezeen
Worldarchitecture
Åvontuura
LA Bang,China’s largest landscape design platform
Hinge Magazine, Hong Kong’s leading design and architecture
Studio
Scarcity and Creativity
Arkitektur og- Designhøgskolen Oslo, Norway
Collaboration
Tianjin University School of Architecture (TJU)
Teachers
Christian Hermansen Cordua
Jan Godzimirski
Solveig Sandness
Completed
June 2019
By the request of a teaching restaurant for children, The Walls
was to be
located between the end of the village and its surrounding agricultural fields. The location was important to let the children explore the fields and bring vegetables back to the restaurant and prepare them for cooking.
After various proposals, a final design landed into five red walls slot into the contours of the site where each wall was free-standing concrete foundations enclosing a storage room, kitchen, and dining room. In order to strengthen the relationship with its landscape, openable glass doors in both the dining and kitchen space were made. To further strengthen the relationship between the walk between the fields and the building, a stop is made by the sink outdoors to let the children wash their vegetables and hands before entering the building. Seatings were also made outdoors, following the edges of the walls, in order to take advantage of the sun and the picturesque view of the landscape.
To help reduce the material waste, we let a fallen tree that was found on the site become an indoor dining table. Also, the bricks that have been used for the project were all bought from a local producer nearby.
At last, we let a red
color
cover the walls - representing happiness in traditional Chinese culture.
1. Kitchen | 2. Dining | 3. Outdoor sink | 4.
Seatings
| 5. Storage
Team
TJU
Li Zi ang, Ma Peiquan, Cheng Jing, Liu Yuan, Liang Yuxuan, An Ran, Wang Runfeng, Geng Huaxiong, Shi Wenshu, Guan Dian, Mu Ke, Li Xing, Zhu Liheng, Yang Xiaoyan, Simon Ondrej, Wang Zhigang, Sun Delong, HuYike, Yang Wei
AHO
Aino Hakulinen, Julien Palisse, Thomas Barouh, Alexander Karim Tamer Minge Salim, Drenusha Blakcori, Silje Charlotte Damhaug, Milica Dukic, Kezala Jere, Nick Yerima, Olav Bog Vikane, Saimi Inkeri Järvinen, Clemens Pörtner, Mar Bartolomé Narbón, Angel Andres Fernandez, Iga Maselkowska, Anne Sofie Solberg, Albert Parera Sánchez, Maria Tarruella i Serra, Mathilde Grindland, Pia Straumsnes Tangen, Christian Hermansen, Solveig Sandness, Jan Kazimierz Godzimirski
