Zijin County is located in the middle east of Guangdong Province, southeast of Heyuan City, and the east bank of the middle reaches of the Dongjiang River. More than 80% of the county is mountainous and hilly, known as eight mountains, one river, and one field. Feng’an Town is located 56 kilometers southwest of Zijin County, which is known as Dreamlike Feng’an and looks like Lijiang River, featuring the phenomenon of ten miles of different styles and hundred miles of different customs. Huilong Village, which is located in a low-mountain and hilly environment, is one of the most remote villages in Feng’an Town, Zijin County, with a pleasant climate and beautiful mountains and clear waters. The texture of the village is both sparse and dense, and the buildings follow the road as they please, dotted among the green hills and green forests.

▼建筑与远山，aerial view of the project and surrounding environment ©吴清山

At present, with the continuous innovation and development of grassroots party construction, Party Service Center has emerged. The construction of Party Service Centers across the country is in full swing. The original Party Service Center in Huilong Village was transformed from two-story houses in the village, with backward functions and closed spaces. At the invitation of the Shenzhen Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Shenzhen Military-civilian Integration Office at the end of 2019, we, as the aided design unit, had the honor to participate in the construction of the Huilong Village Party Service Center.

Based on field investigation and survey, most of the residential buildings in Huilong Village are newly built two- and three-story peasant houses and few original residential buildings are retained. The overall village varies greatly due to the undulations of the topography, and the residential houses are arranged in a linear decentralized layout according to local conditions. The village lacks a multifunctional service activity center with centripetal and locality. After many twists and turns in the site selection, the site was finally selected as a square plot with an area of about 237 square meters adjacent to the primary school campus currently in use. The villagers have good accessibility, high terrain, and wide views of the landscape. There is also an abandoned site on the east side that can be used.

▼项目概览，overall of the project ©吴清山

The south side of the project plot is adjacent to the primary school teaching building in the existing village; the west and north sides are surrounded by woods and separated from the mountain landscape on the north side. Standing in the middle of the site, people can overlook the surrounding mountains through the woods. After arranging the building of the Party Service Center, we hope that the building and surrounding landscape elements can be integrated to form a semi-enclosed place. Therefore, a long and low wall is set on the northeast side of the site to extend the building boundary and define a new outer courtyard with the building as an outdoor activity square. Therefore, the Party Service Center faces the event plaza and constitutes an important interface of it. The internal function of the building needs to form a space and line of sight interaction and dialogue with the external plaza during a specific period, which constitutes the relationship between seeing and being seen. The outer courtyard plaza is equipped with a stage for villagers’ gatherings, festival celebrations, outdoor movie screenings, and other functions. As a result, the formerly abandoned site has also been regenerated and vitalized.

▼环境区位图，site location ©元本体