Articles by 胡天宝 - HU Tianbao

Canadian lifestyle brand Herschel Supply commissioned Linehouse to design their first China office, located in a Shanghai lane amongst an urban residential area. The site occupies an area where many old residential buildings are being demolished. Traces of these buildings remain, allowing glimpses of what Shanghai everyday life may have once been. Houses are stripped, revealing layers of materials, sectionally cut and voids are filled. This process of deconstruction and public vs. private was the driving narrative for the concept of the Herschel office.

M.Y. Village Baptist Church has a small congregation located right next to Shuinan redevelopment zone. First floor houses the auxiliary space, second and third floor being the main auditorium and its mezzanine seating area. The fourth floor is the pastor’s residence.

Church of Christ in Jixi got support from the church workers of Wenzhou in 2014, and purchased an old silk factory in Zhiyuan village located in the southeast of Jixi city. It became the first holy place where Christian can pray after basic renewal. Since the limited budget, the building never got completely repair. Even it was dangerous, the number of believers was still increasing. After ten years, the Church of Christ decided to tear down the old building and build a new one in 2013. Every believer was willing to devote themselves, and the rebuilding things finally kicked off. 

Context

“Even in the most luxurious district, reading is still an indispensable, heartwarming place” – Yu Ting

Situated in Ruicheng County of Shanxi Province, the Five Dragon Temple (Guang Ren Wang Temple) was built in 831 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty. Ranked chronologically, it is the second oldest among the remaining four architectures of the Tang Dynasty, as well as being the oldest surviving Taoist temple. The Five Dragons Temple experienced several times of renovation during its lifetime, but its structure from the Tang Dynasty remained largely unchanged. However, contrasting to the Five Dragons Temple’s exalted historic position was its previous surrounding environment. The Five Dragons Temple is seldom known and has few visitors. Located on a high slope, the temple as a cultural relic was segregated away from the villagers. Due to arid weather in recent years, the past splendor of the Dragon Spring lying at the bottom of the slope was gone now. Additionally, the advancement in agricultural irrigation technology caused the vanishing of the rain praying culture at dragon temples, thus resulting in the decline of the temple as the neighborhood center. In the end, the Dragon Spring, which was the spiritual core of the villagers, gradually deteriorated into a rubbish dump of the village.

This is an old house renovation project. The original building was an early-style two-story house built over two decades ago. It is located in a rural area surrounded by vast sugarcane and rice fields. A tributary of Chianan Irrigation runs through the front of the building. In the back lies a folk religion temple with a good number of followers.