Jujube Orchard Station

Jujube Orchard Station
Activity center. Image © Yiping Lin

JUJUBE ORCHARD STATION

Original Architects

ARCHITECTS
Original Architects

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Yong Tang

DESIGN TEAM
Yiping Lin, Bingxin Yang, Pei Zhao, Bo Wang, Minjie Luo, Haipeng Jiang, Yazheng Han, Zhiqiang Ding

PHOTOGRAPHS
Yiping Lin, Yu Chen, Bingxin Yang

AREA
476 M²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Yulin, China

CATEGORY
Landscape Architecture

Text description provided by architect.

With the decline of Yellow river transportation in modern times, the glorious cave-dwelling village along the precipice in Northern Shaanxi has become a remote place, desolate and lonely.

Jujube Orchard Station
Station birdview. Image © Bingxin Yang
Jujube Orchard Station
A bird's eye view of the station (after construction). Image © Bingxin Yang

In recent years, the construction of the highway along the Yellow River has ushered in new opportunities for these ancient villages.

The design of the "post station" along the road not only facilitates road traffic, but also becomes the "antenna" of the old villages and the "gathering place" of urban and rural life.

How to satisfy and activate the multiple functions of urban and rural areas and create a natural contemporary settlement of one side by taking advantage of the situation of mountain forests has become the design goal of this new building type.

An ENLARGED POST STATION
 
From the point of government, the construction of the "post station" along the road is intended to provide a complete set of traffic and tourism services for the villages along the Yellow Road, including three basic functions: parking, shop and a public toilet. However, the a Wedding and Funeral Banquet Hall with 200 people in the jujube forests, so as not to interfere with the life of the village.

In the face of the differences between urban and rural areas, with the opportunity of "post station" construction, the service spaces with complementary functions are concentrated outside the old villages.

Jujube Orchard Station
Aerial View. Image © Yiping Lin
Jujube Orchard Station
Cover. Image © Yiping Lin

The functions are enlarged to restaurants, teahouses, stage squares, banquet hall, and even temporary jujube Market. It becomes the remote tentacles of the Nihegou village, and also a gathering place for rural public life.

In Nihegou, a traditional village with the world's important agricultural and cultural heritage (GIAHS): "Jiaxian ancient jujube garden", many functional this "enlarged post station" among the jujube forests with different village entrances and build it naturally has become the primary problem faced by the design.

Jujube Orchard Station
Station slope. Image © Yu Chen
Jujube Orchard Station
Sandwich entrance. Image © Yiping Lin

DISPERSED BUILDING

On the side of the road along the Yellow Road, there is only one jujube woodland near the new road. From the highway to the edge of River, there is a step-like drop of nearly three meters, while the newly built flood control dike along River has a height difference of four meters, in order to prevent the mountain flood outbreak in summer and autumn every year.

The uneven jujube forest in the base is the main economic crop in the village. Every jujube tree has its own owner. The identification and compensation of the land are also based on jujube.

Jujube Orchard Station
Stone steps courtyard. Image © Yiping Lin

Ulmus, poplar and other trees on the edge of the jujube forest are also important guarantees of village biodiversity. In this regard, it is the preferred strategy to disperse the building space in the forest by taking advantage of the topographic elevation difference and the spacing between trees according to local conditions.

The planning and design of the station starts from the measure land. To avoid the southern jujube densely populated area and the Guanyin Temple conservation area, to maintain the natural atmosphere of the jujube forest in the village, the main building of the station should be placed on the sparse side of the north jujube forest, and next to the Shishan cliff under the bend of the river near the village.

Jujube Orchard Station
Station toilet. Image © Yiping Lin

The height difference between roads, forests and river embankments is wide and narrow, so that the buildings can enter and be built by trees.


The buildings can be reduced to basic space units along the curve, so as to weaken the volume and disperse it among jujube forests. Building natural contemporary settlements among the forests not only preserves the origin of the village entrance, but also obtains another small world.

Jujube Orchard Station
Courtyard stage. Image © Bingxin Yang
Jujube Orchard Station
Courtyard stage. Image © Yiping Lin

A COUNTRY GARDEN

In Chinese gardens, architecture is a typical unit type. The main structure follow the basic form, and its relationship with the path, place and situation is more important than building itself.

How to borrow the ingenious way of dealing with Chinese gardens in the construction of rural venues, and effectively integrate the actual demand of local technology and lower cost?

For this reason, light steel frame and local characteristics of stone wall and willow weaving technology are selected to reduce the wall height, leave high windows, lighting and ventilation, and can be incorporated into the forest landscape.

Jujube Orchard Station
Stone step courtyard. Image © Yiping Lin
Jujube Orchard Station
Entrance along the embankment. Image © Yiping Lin

Their unitary volume is not only scattered among the forests, but also partially aggregated due to their behavioral functions, which has become a new experience mode of rural garden space in jujube orchard.

BETWEEN GATHERING AND SCATTERING

The square was transformed into a staircase base on the original jujube forest concave land, and the building monomer space was gathered to cater for the steep Golden Lion Mountain.

Jujube Orchard Station
Between the scattered. Image © Yu Chen
Jujube Orchard Station
Between the scattered. Image © Yiping Lin

All rooms are open to the inner theatre stage, but because of different functions, there are different space atmosphere.

The main hall connects the kitchen with a South skylight and bright light; the elevated tea room is surrounded by trees, facing the stage square, with the darkest space; even the small windows of the management room ensure the comfort and convenience of the office space.

Similar to the "Six Persimmons painting " of Muxi in Southern Song Dynasty, the six persimmons with different virtual and real are placed on an invisible and boundless plane, seemingly scattered and implemented at random, and seemingly gathered meticulously.

Jujube Orchard Station
Station corridor. Image © Bingxin Yang
Jujube Orchard Station
Courtyard stage. Image © Yiping Lin

The overlapping or gap differences between them bring many subtle imaginations. Relative space gathering and dispersing, time and behavioral reincarnation may be a more real daily life in the countryside.

Most of the days in the countryside are quiet and repetitive, and the square provide the leisure sitting and watching of the main road at the village entrance.

Jujube Orchard Station
Courtyard stage. Image © Yiping Lin
Jujube Orchard Station
Interior main hall. Image © Yiping Lin

When festivals or other events come, villagers gather in the Plaza. The huge cliff seems on screen, with the singing, inspiring their mood of worship. This is an important moment for village cohesion.

In the face of mountains and rivers, or joy or sorrow, this gathering ceremony is rare in the long days, but even more indispensable in the ancient villages. The jujube orchard Post Station scatters among the forests in the settlement space, quietly carrying the gathering and scattering of the ancient village life.

Jujube Orchard Station
Indoor. Image © Yiping Lin


Jujube Orchard Station
General plan of Nihegou
Jujube Orchard Station
One floor plan
Jujube Orchard Station
Diagram
Jujube Orchard Station
Zaolin Station