Qingyuan Young Professors' Club, Zhejiang University

The project is constructed from reconstructing the old site of Qingyuan Primary School in Qingyuan Village, Tonglu County, Hangzhou. Two single-floor old school houses arrange simply in shape “L”; the other two sides are walls. The wooden framework and some purlins of school building have been in disrepair.

We follow the design principle “repair and maintain the old”: dismantle old and relatively shabby tiles, roof battens and plank sheathings, retain, burnish, process and reinforce large wood beams and purlins, install new plank sheathings, roof battens and tiles.

There are two stone walls with exquisite color and interesting texture which are bare because of the loss of lime plaster indoors. They are reserved as the background of audio and visual room. As for side corridor, the shabby purlins and roof boards are replaced by new wooden frameworks and customized hand-knitting curtain. The sense of order of new pillars and specific gray space feeling endow new expression to the old building in inner yard without losing the original style and memory.

As for the new building in southeast part of the base, it integrates with the eastern scene in open and relieved style. Facade uses the uniform module whose size is close to that of outside corridor of the old school building. With completely open glass doors, vision can be transparent as far as possible to make it integrate with remote scene.

We use rectangular modern rusty boards to add a row of frameworks of scenery to the stone walls in the east of the building. When you watch from the inside, you can feel strong sense of integration from the natural, modern and historical substances.

In the south of the inner yard, the mottled water tower is reserved. An outdoor corridor built on stilts is built for people to turn and look far into the distance.

It is our attitude to reserve simplicity and trueness, strictly treat the relationship with history and dimly settle a new building.

The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University, ACRC
Architects in Charge: Hu Huifeng, Peng Rongbin and Jiang Lanlan
Design Team: Li Congxiao, Jia Zhongdi, Wang Lulu, Lv Ning, Deng Yue, Li Zheye, Yu Le, Lv Xiaofeng and Chen Xian