Architecture Asia - ARCASIA Awards for Architecture 2018

D
Conservation Projects
Honourable Mention
Architect
Hui Wang
Location
Ruicheng County,
Yuncheng City,
Shanxi Province,
China
Year
2016
The Environmental Upgrade
of the Five Dragons Temple
Listed as a class A cultural relic by China’s National Cultural Heritage Conservation
Bureau, the Five Dragons Temple is the oldest surviving Taoist temple,
and the second oldest timber building. However, this national treasure had
been in a deteriorated condition. The project required an innovative solution to
restore the temple by means of environmental upgrade and to sustain the temple
in the long run by inviting the daily life of villagers back around the temple.
The environmental upgrade of the Five Dragons Temple is centred around two
themes. The explicit 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, visitors can learn about the knowledge
of traditional Chinese architecture to better understand the importance of
preserving its heritage. The latent theme is to restore the temple back into the
realm of public gatherings of the village.
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ARCHITECTURE ASIA ISSUE 3 2018