Enshi Prefecture has more mountains and less land, and its mountains account for about 70% of the land. Therefore, we chose Tongcheba, a rare waterfront and gentle slope area, as the site for the visitor center. This project does not require large-scale site leveling. The main building with the ground level adapting to the change of the site with the cascading landscape.
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China Tujia Pan Museum (Pengjiazhai) Visitor Center
Cultural Architecture (Built)
Firm
Professor Li Baofeng’s studio
Architect/Designer
Baofeng Li
Design Team
Baofeng Li, Xuejing Zhu, Pengpeng Yang, Jing Huang, Tong Wang
Location
Xuanen, Hubei, China
Country
China
Photographer/Copyright
©Yilong Zhao
The visitor center is an important building in the Chinese Tujia pan-museum, and its main function is to solve the transfer of tourists. However, we have determined the visitor center with more functions, including exhibitions, performances, receptions and small conferences, which make the building full of energy at all times. In addition, the site where the visitor center is located is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the ground is a natural gentle slope. Our buildings and landscapes conform to the natural terrain without excessive artificial intervention. In order to echo the traditional architecture of the Tujia people, we used the contemporary glulam structure with the characteristics of low carbon and environmental protection, creating a harmonious and tension effect in the relationship between the old and new buildings, thus emphasizing the depth of history.
This project is a large-span space structure. In order to emphasize the characteristics, the complex shape leads to a wide variety of components, which restricts the assembly type, but we use digital design technology to systematically solve this contradiction. Due to the complex shape, the construction unit encountered many difficulties in material processing and assembly, and traditional experience was not enough to solve these problems. Our design team and robot team cooperated across borders, and finally used the robotic arm to process the components, which greatly improved the efficiency.
The project site used to be a poor cottage. However, due to the completion of the Chinese Tujia Pan-Museum, especially the main visitor center, it has attracted a large number of tourists. The flourishing development of tourism not only publicized the Tujia culture, but also played a positive role in improving the economic status of the local villagers. In addition, the staff inside the Moxiaolou are basically local villagers, so the operation of the Moxiaolou also provides them with many employment opportunities.