Team: Zou Dehua, Du Aihong, Wen Ting, Anne Van Stijn, Li Xiaofen, Li Yongcai
Situated in Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province, the Five Dragons Temple (Guang Ren Wang Temple) is listed as a class A cultural relic by the National Cultural Heritage Conservation Bureau in China. Built in 832 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty, it is the oldest surviving Taoist temple. Sitting on a raised ridge above its surrounding village, the temple itself is segregated from the everyday lives of the villagers. The original picturesque view of the temple has also lost its charms due to the increasing exacerbation of the environment. Furthermore, modern irrigation techniques has replaced the rite for praying rain, and thus turning Five Dragons Temple from a spiritual centre to rubbish.
In 2015, Vanke Group initiated the “Long Plan” to raise fund to revitalise the environment of the Five Dragons Temple. This plan also helps to arise the public awareness on this historical preservation project. This initiative would then go on to become the first time where the government and private funds cooperated for cultural relics preservation, as well as the promotion of cultural protection through the platforms of internet and the international Expo.
The design of the environment uplift for the Five Dragons Temple is centered around two themes. An outstanding theme is to create layers of overlapping spaces around the main building to tell the story of the temple history and ancient Chinese architecture. Through this theme, people would learn about the knowledge of traditional Chinese architecture to better understand the importance for the preservation of heritage. The latent theme is to restore the temple into an area of public gathering in the village, and to give an alleviated environment to encourage contemporary lifestyles in coherent with the realms of ancient architecture.
Credits:
Location: Ruicheng City, Shanxi Province
Design Period: 2013-2015
Construction Period: 2015-2016
Project Status: Completed
Site Area: 5,838㎡
Floor Area: 267㎡
Client: The Tourism Cultural Relics Bureau of Ruicheng City
Exceutive Team: “Long•Plan”Group|Ding Changfeng, Hou Zhenghua, Cao Jiangwei, Li Xiaomei, Dong Lina, Lv Jiancang, Zhang Xiaokang, Wang Hui, Han Jiaying
Construction Documents Collaborators: Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University Co.,Ltd | Loma Landscape Co.,Ltd
Graphic Design: Han Jiaying Design & Associates Co.,Ltd
Photographers: Yang Chaoying, Jerry Yin
Video:
SHARDISLAND. The Documentary of the Five Dragons Temple. 2017.02
Publications:
URBANUS. Templo Five Dragons. ARQA website. 2017.08.11
URBANUS revitalizes and reorganizes ancient taoist temple in northern china. Designboom website. 2017.05.10
URBANUS. Five-Dragons Temple Environmental Refurbishment. Archdaily website. 2017.05.02
都市实践. 五龙庙环境整治设计. Archdaily建筑网站. 2017.05.02
URBANUS. The Environmental Enhancement of the Five Dragons Temple. London Design Museum website
URBANUS. The Design of the Five-Dragons Temple Environmental Improvement, Shanxi, China. gooood website. 2016.11.24
都市实践. 山西运城五龙庙环境整治设计. 谷德设计网. 2016.11.24
Exhibition:
URBANUS @ 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB)
