Monday, December 6, 2010

Bamboo Bridge School Wins a 2010 AGA KHAN AWARD

2nd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Inhabitat by Bridgette Meinhold

This beautiful bamboo Bridge School in Xiashi, China is one of the five winners for the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The project is located in a rural Chinese village, and it has rejuvenated the entire community by providing a place for children to learn, a means to cross the town's river, and a public gathering space. Li Xiaodong designed and built the little two-room schoolhouse as a multi-purpose facility for the whole village, and it has become the heart of the town.

As Xiaodong says, the concept resulted in "minimum intervention, yet maximum impact - to rejuvenate the whole community."Li Xiaodong was asked to design a small school for the village of Xiashi in the Fujian Province, and he had the idea to combine the school with a pedestrian bridge that connected two historic toulou (circular castles made from packed dirt). A creek runs right through the middle of the village and the toulou serve as important historical landmarks, so it made sense to locate the school at the physical heart of the village. As Xiaodong says, the concept resulted in “minimum intervention, yet maximum impact – to rejuvenate the whole community.”

The school is constructed out of two large steel spans that cross the bridge and smaller steel supports and framing. Local materials and wood were used to create the facade, interior furnishings and school furniture. While the steel is very modern, especially in the context of a rural village, the material will last a long time while creating a structurally-sound school. The use of local materials helps the building blend texturally and aesthetically with the rest of the village.


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