Articles by Xiaohang Hou

The Je Jung-Gu Community Center is a modest cultural space paying tribute to the life and legacy of the late human rights activist Je Jung-Gu. The Center, open to both residents and visitors, is located at a park bordering the Daega Reservoir in Goseong County, Sothern Gyeongsang Province. Mr. Je, a native of Goseong County, dedicated his life to advocating the human rights of the urban poor including their right to survival. He championed a communal life by practicing the values of living together and sharing as opposed to separation and ownership. More than anyone else, he appreciated the human dignity inherent to everyone. The center comprises twin single-story buildings. They feature gabled roofs, the most modest type of roof that befits an architecture commemorating a person who led a humble life.

Lieu Painting Studio is located in Xi’an’s High-Tech District. Clients want to create an artistic venue within the urbanized fabric, to meet flexible functional requests of teaching, experiencing, communicating, and exhibiting, etc. 

Daijin Village, located in Jinshan District, Shanghai, is a typical waterside village in the south of the Yangtze River. For generations, the local villagers have lived near water and made a living by fishing and farming. With the construction of the nearby Huakai Haishang Ecological Garden, the local life has also gradually changed. The increasing number of tourists called for new types of tourism. It was difficult for traditional forms of agritainment to meet the demands of tourists from cities. For this reason, creating an example and template of new forms of homestay to promote the industrial upgrading for surrounding peasants became the reason for Huahai homestay. How to fit the thousand-mu sea of flowers into the waterside village south of the Yangtze River is the entry point of this project.

Located on a pedestrian street by the West Lake in Hangzhou, Corner Pavilion is a small building designed by Dazhou And Associates for the coffee brand M Stand. The street is crowded with people and the site is defined out by three ginkgo trees, less than 100 meters from the West Lake.

Maozhou River is the largest waterbody system in Shenzhen, flowing through Baoan and Guangming districts. Along the waterway are mostly industrial areas, among which Guangming district is most well-known for being a novel town for hi-tech industries. The Left Bank Science and Technology Park is situated at the Guangming Section of Maozhou River, making it one of the most important public nodes along the 12.8km spanning Maozhou River Greenlane Project. The site is perpendicularly divided by two urban highways. The triangular plot is scattered with temporary storage warehouse. Together with the hardened ground surface, the presence of water is almost unperceivable from the site. What should have been a great waterfront has become a void separating the city and the water.

The project is located in a transformed industrial park called STATION. The entire zone in 2021 right after COVID-19 rapidly has become a hot spot for families, youngsters, and creative minds. In the heart of STATION, there is a rice noodle bar-YUNFEN-that aims to bring a fresh and playful experience to customers through the interior and branding design.

Zhongshan Kaiyin Nursery School is located in Kai Yin Hao Yuan, Zhongshan, occupying the southeast corner of the public club area. This school is set up for children aged 0-3. Around 5 classrooms, it is equipped with a game room, reception room, kitchen, medical room, teacher’s lounge, multimedia room, and other supporting facilities. Although the residential area built in early 2000 is still bathed in an intimate environment with sunshine and flowing water, the public club area in the core location has already shown a state of decay and urgently needs to be updated. The introduction of the nursery school is a starting attempt.

Recently, a service buildings group of Nantong Urban Agricultural Park has been completed by Z-ONE Architects (a newly emerging studio that specializes in experimental architectural practice in rural China; established in 2020). The project is located in the northern suburb of Nantong, Jiangsu, China, with a total construction area of 4552.8m². It took four months from concept design to final completion.