House of Cornfield

House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia

House of Cornfield

xian Architects

ARCHITECTS
xian Architects

CLIENTS
Good Mountains & Mountains Good / builder of country life

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Yanshi Wang, He Bai

METAL
Yu Xiwang team

STRUCTURAL DESIGNER
Xiaolei Zhao

INTERIOR STYLING
Cao Feng team, Back to 20th & 20C Gallery

INTERIOR
Jiang Kexiang team

DESIGN TEAM
Mengzheng Zhou, Yifeng Liu, Jinrong Hua / internship

MANUFACTURERS
Back to 20th, SCHWERT, Yihuida Shimizu Concrete

CONSTRUCTION
Wang Haijiang team

PHOTOGRAPHS
Zhi Xia, He Bai

AREA
300 m²

YEAR
2024

LOCATION
Huairou District, China

CATEGORY
Houses

Text description provided by architect.

This is a countryside home. It is a preliminary exploration of the sample of " living in-between " lifestyle that lies between nature and the city, with the expectation of containing a degree of freedom and vitality of life.

House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia

The village where the homestead is located is surrounded by continuous mountains to the north and south. In between the village and the northern mountain lay a flowing rivers and large fields.

We settle and gather in such "ancient" landscapes of mountains, rivers, villages and fields, and the memories of many past generations were shaped make us temporarily retain the instinct of closeness to the nature.

In the north, sunlight is precious in winter, you have to "compete for sunlight" (rotating 15 degrees from due south to east).

House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia

Each courtyard has the most important building facing south, which is called “Zheng Fang” in Chinese.

The layout of Zheng Fang, passed down from generation to generation, gradually evolves to be dignified, natural and graceful, which is exactly the simple process of the village gathering and standing.

As we follow this traditional layout, the facade of Zheng Fang, where the question of how should a building be standing will be looked into, ought to be carefully considered.

House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia

The roofs of each household gather together, constituting a continuous landscape. As "new villagers", a gable roof is chosen to blend in to the vernacular landscape.

The open cultivated fields, the continuous mountains and the setting sun exert a powerful call on the roof, but we respond with different sections. The Architecture becomes the eyes of the landscape, the ears of the environment, and the horn of signals .

House of Cornfield
© He Bai
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia

Due to the structure of the architecture, the breadth and intensity of the outside can continuously manifest in daily life, providing people with a support to connect to non-predetermined signals while wandering peacefully in their thoughts.

This is also a story of receiving information and sending out signal. For us, a need related to survival lurks when we first arrived at the homestead:

House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield

to seeking a very direct and affirmative quality for the broader existence, with simple standing and absolute stillness.


House of Cornfield
© He Bai
House of Cornfield
© He Bai
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© He Bai
House of Cornfield
© He Bai
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia


House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia


House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia
House of Cornfield
© Zhi Xia


House of Cornfield
Diagram
House of Cornfield
Sections


House of Cornfield
Perspective section
House of Cornfield
Exploded axonometry


House of Cornfield
Plans

House of Cornfield
Plan - Site