Traditional rural housing and construction department

Designing and transforming the countryside, the exploration road of Songyang

Lishui Songyang is a remote town in the southwest of Zhejiang Province, with many mountains and few plains. There are also nearly 100 ancient villages, loess huts, and the smoke is still a pastoral farming scene. This county, with a history of more than 1800 years, has more than 100 traditional villages with complete pattern, of which 7 1 is listed in the national protection list, ranking first in East China, and is known as "the sample of local China" and "the last secret place in the south of the Yangtze River".

In recent years, Songyang County has been committed to exploring the protection and development of traditional villages and the display of local culture, and guiding people to use traditional houses to develop village houses. In 20 15, it was awarded the title of "Demonstration County for the Protection and Development of Traditional Villages in China" by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and only Zhejiang Songyang and Yunnan Jianshui won this honor.

Pingtian Village in Sidu Township is one of many ancient villages in Songyang. With the original ecological beauty of Shan Ye and the local government's policy of "revitalizing" traditional ancient villages, many designers in this small mountain village with only a hundred people have realized their desire to transform farmhouse music here, turning Pingtian Village into a "Pingtian Slow Life Experience Zone on the Cloud".

The name "Hirata on the Cloud" was heard as early as last year, and many people called it a model of "Shenshan B&B Village". Behind him stood a bunch of famous architects from Tsinghua, Harvard and Central Academy of Fine Arts. When we were preparing the topic of "beautiful countryside", Pingtian Village in Songyang was naturally included in our investigation.

Most of the traditional villages in Songyang are scattered in remote mountainous areas, and public transportation is very scarce. Driving by car is an ideal way. Last year, the high-speed train from Shanghai to Lishui was opened, so we adopted the way of renting a car by high-speed train, which can save a lot of time on the road. In another four years, the high-speed train through Songyang will be opened, and it will be more convenient to get to Songyang.

Pingtian Village is located in Sidu Township, Songyang County, and you can reach Pingtian Village by driving north along Panshan Highway 15km. Pingtian Village is a village with a history of more than 900 years. It was built halfway up the mountain, more than 600 meters above sea level. The old houses are distributed step by step. Due to the special mountain village topography and magical climate, most of the year is shrouded in hazy mist, forming a unique sea of clouds landscape, hence the name "the cloud is flat on the ground".

Although Pingtian Village has fantastic rural scenery, life on the mountain is too inconvenient. Most villagers have left the dilapidated yellow mud houses and moved to the county seat. Only dozens of old people still live in the village, and more and more old houses are in disrepair. The village is facing a serious hollowing out situation.

A few years ago, I heard that the county would vigorously develop rural houses, which made Jiang, who was born in Pingtian Village, see potential opportunities. In 20 13, after years of hard work outside, he decided to return to his hometown, rented 28 idle old houses in the village and prepared to develop a homestay. Later, he established "Shang Yun Pingtian Tourism Development Co., Ltd." and started the road of "change" in the village.

With the help of Wang Jun, secretary of Songyang County Party Committee, Luo Deyin, a professor from School of Architecture of Tsinghua University, came to Songyang to make an overall plan for the renovation of Pingtian Village. Under his leadership, Pingtian Village introduced an architectural design team composed of several university professors, who assigned different old houses and began to carry out renovation design according to the corresponding functions.

Two years later, comprehensive projects including "Grandpa's Youth Hostel", "Muxiang Caotang" B&B, Siheyuan Restaurant, Shang Yun Tea Room, Crop Exhibition Hall and Artist's Studio were successively developed and constructed, and "Shang Yun Pingtian Slow Life Experience Zone" came into being. More and more people come here to travel, which makes this isolated mountain village glow gradually.

The youth hostel named "Grandpa's Home" should be the first to bring Pingtian Village into public view, and it is also the reception center of the experience area. It looks like an ordinary rammed earth house. It used to be the residence of the master's grandfather Jiang. After the transformation, it is kind to simply name it "Grandpa's Youth Hostel". Just last year, it was rated as the best budget hotel in the world by the leading American hotel design magazine HospitalityDesign Magzine.

The "Grandpa's Youth Hostel" was designed by the owner of the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the external form of Grandpa's home was basically preserved. Only a long window was opened on the second floor, facing the good landscape and introducing the scenery and light into the room. This kind of rammed earth residence with little external transformation has a lot of internal dry Kun. The inner wall on the first floor of the original building was demolished, and it became the youth travel front desk and living room, study and coffee shop.

The second floor is the accommodation unit of youth travel agency. He Wei made three movable rooms with translucent sun panels and put them into the big house with a gentle attitude. Its smooth and light texture forms an interesting contrast with the old-fashioned earth wall. There are lights of different colors in the room. After turning on the light, the space becomes dreamy and fashionable. Each box has bunk beds, which can sleep 4 to 6 people. This is mainly aimed at young people who come to sketch and have an outing.

In addition to Grandpa's youth travel, the residential area in Pingtian, Shang Yun consists of several houses with different styles. The "wooden hut" designed by Xu, the former director of the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University, uses wooden materials to transform the interior without changing the external shape, which makes people feel simple nostalgia and warmth. Guiyunju, which was completed in June, 5438+last year 10, is completely decorated in modern style and pays more attention to comfort. It is the first floor heating homestay in Songyang. Today, Hirata * * has 22 rooms, and the occupancy rate is about 70%.

Professor Wang Weiren, director of the Department of Architecture of xg University, designed the "Shanjia Qinggong" restaurant, which is the most renovated building here. The designer kept the original courtyard structure of the old house and turned it into an elegant quadrangle restaurant with a balcony upstairs. An old house behind the restaurant turned into a tea room. After dinner, you can sit here, make a pot of tea and enjoy the misty fog in the mountains.

In addition to homestays and restaurants, there are also agricultural museums and handicraft museums in the village, which are transformed from four idle abandoned cowsheds and yellow mud houses at the entrance of the village. Designer Xu Tiantian, a young designer from Harvard University, seems to prefer the public buildings in Songyang (famous works include Damushan Tea Room, Xingcun Brown Sugar Workshop, Shicang Contract Museum, etc.). ).

The agricultural museum has hardly changed the structure of the original house, only repaired and strengthened the wall, and used the traditional materials of staggered tiles on the roof to create a fresh light sense. There are some farm tools and daily necessities donated by villagers spontaneously. Although it is not a precious exhibit, this design can make villagers have confidence in their own culture, and it is also a window for outsiders to understand rural culture.

Next door to the farming hall is the artist's studio. The designer tore down the wall between two dilapidated houses and connected them with strip skylights, so that the houses were combined into one. An open and bright activity space has been formed on the first floor, where an exhibition of traditional tie-dyeing crafts is being held.

"Hirata on the Cloud" is actually a rural complex project. As the first rural slow life experience area in the county, Jiang wants to change not only a few houses, but also a traditional village that is gradually hollowing out and become a vibrant community that can attract modern people.

"Everyone wants my hometown to get better and better. I want to share the beauty of my hometown with more people and arouse the villagers' awareness of caring for and developing my hometown. "Jiang said that at present, the operators and service personnel of the hotel are basically local and nearby villagers, and the fruits and vegetables consumed by tourists are basically supplied by farmers in the village. Agricultural special products that cannot be sold in the village have also been bought by consumers in the city, which has virtually increased the income of local farmers.

According to my visit, in fact, simple villagers do not exclude tourists who come in droves. Because of the development of tourism, the supporting project of "leveling the fields on the cloud", the tap water and sewage system in the village were built together with the help of the government, and the appearance of the village was cleaner and the living conditions were greatly improved. Seeing that the village is getting more and more lively, some young people also plan to come back from the city to run a homestay.

After more than two years' efforts, Hirata on the cloud has begun to take shape, and more undeveloped resources will be gradually included in the development plan. Of course, Jiang's dream of Hirata was not smooth sailing. "So far, the construction of Shangyun Pingtian has invested more than 6 million yuan. At present, there are still some reconstruction projects that have not been completed, and the financial pressure is definitely there. Second, there is a shortage of talents. In the future, operations and services will require more professionals to join. "

Fortunately, the rural founders represented by Jiang received strong support from the government. Last year, in order to further encourage the development of B&B industry, Songyang issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Economic Development of B&B". The county finance integrated 30 million yuan to support the economic development of B&B district, and each room rated as B&B was given a certain economic subsidy. It is hoped that in this way, more rural makers can be attracted to join in and the tourism transformation and development in rural areas of Songyang can be promoted.

The turning point of Pingtian Village is a typical case of Songyang's "activation and protection". The so-called "activation protection" is to make the "dead" ancient buildings "alive" through flexible management methods. The experience of Pingtian village is not an isolated case, but a microcosm of Songyang traditional village in recent years.

The next day, we left Pingtian Village and went to Xikeng Village, which is called "the most beautiful village" nearby. The two villages belong to Sidu Township, and the linear distance is only about three kilometers. It takes seven or eight minutes to drive along Panshan Highway, so it is often compared together.

From a distance, I saw many cars parked at the entrance of the village, which looked more lively than Pingtian Village. Xikeng Village is similar in scale and appearance to Heping Village, but its view is better than Pingtian Village, because the village is just facing the gap between two mountains, and the view is not blocked. If the weather is fine, you can even see Songyang County beyond the canyon.

The two best scenic spots in the village have successively built boutique hotels. It started with "Crossing the Clouds and Mountains". The occupancy rate of "Guoyun Mountain Residence" has been around 97% since it opened in August 20 15. Because of its success, above the cloud, another place where you can view the scenery has opened up a "cloud-seeking environment". Both homestays are design hotels that make a fuss about the "cloud", and the prices are similar.

Standing on the suspended terrace of "Chuanyunshanju", the V-shaped valley with a vertical drop of about 500 meters may not be suitable for acrophobia patients. It is said that when you come here in the morning, clouds will rush up from the valley like waves, giving people a feeling of living in the clouds.

"Chuanyunshanju" can be regarded as the benchmark of the whole Songyang B&B industry at present. If "the sky above the clouds" is a spontaneous reconstruction project of local villagers, then "Guo Yunshan Residence" is the representative of foreign capital entering Songyang to ask for directions. To some extent, because foreign investors bear higher risks, they will be stricter than local operators in site selection and design standards, which is not difficult to find.

B&B, the three partners of "Guo Yunshan House", are all from Suzhou, and they actually have no experience in this field. When they decided to open a B&B together, they felt that the most important thing was the location. They visited dozens of villages in Songyang alone, and finally chose this foggy Xikeng village at an altitude of 700 meters.

They found two old houses facing the canyon with the best scenery in the village, which were renovated for a whole year and only made eight rooms. Eight rooms are almost suspended on the cliff, with floor-to-ceiling glass, viewing bathtub, Japanese tatami and bamboo furniture. A suspended terrace with a huge gap was built outside with a steel structure, in order to let the residents here better see the clouds in a daze.

Nowadays, in Xikeng Village, in addition to "living in the mountains through the clouds" and "looking for scenery in the clouds", the villagers spontaneously opened several farmhouses and restaurants in other places with poor landscapes. Obviously, Xikeng Village, which is not big in itself, has no more room for development. Looking up unconsciously, in Zhaitouling in the distance, near the top of the mountain, there is an ancient village, Chenjiapu Village. The scenery there is also good, but the altitude is higher and the clouds are bigger.

It's only a few minutes' drive from Xikeng Village to Chenjiapu. Chenjiapu village, 800 meters above sea level, has also received much attention recently. Pioneer bookstore, the most beautiful bookstore in China by CNN, is about to open in Chenjiapu Village. This is another rural bookstore that pioneer bookstore walked out of Jiangsu after Bishan Bookstore and Pioneer Yunxi Library. He took it to Chenjiapu Village and, of course, his partner, Yunxi Local Art Hotel.

We walked around the village. Obviously, Yunxi Hotel intends to replicate the successful model of "Yunxi Daijiashan" here. In a traditional village with high altitude and steps, Yunxi Hotel is built not far from the entrance of the village (currently under construction), and pioneer bookstore is built in the core of the village, which is only a few hundred meters' walk away. The construction of the bookstore has been basically completed at present, and carpenters are making rows of checkered bookshelves. The landscape where the bookstore is located is also very good, and you can see Xikeng Village below.

Probably because the location is too high, the Chen family is sparsely populated, and the villagers have basically moved away. There are more abandoned and collapsed old houses in the village than any village I have ever been to. I feel that there is still a lot of work to be done if we want to develop as a whole.

On the way back from Chenjiapu Village to Songyang County, we went to Shu Lang Village, a low-lying village. These villages in Sidu Township are not far apart. Because of the successful development of Heping Village in Xikeng Village, other surrounding villages seem to be engaged in rural construction. Obviously, there will be a hotel-themed holiday route in the future.

Shu Lang Village is already a huge construction site, so we can only look at it from the outside of the fence. Right here, a bigger investment B&B comprehensive project is under construction. In the next three years, Shu Lang Village will become a community complex of Xinxiang Village, which integrates village accommodation, cultural and creative arts, theme catering, rural theater, organic agriculture, education and training. The whole project is about 30 mu, and the planned investment is 2 1 10,000 yuan.

On the Internet, some people call the future Shu Lang Village "Mogan Gang Base Camp". According to the drawings, Shu Lang Village will copy the existing format of Moganshan, and a large number of high-quality brands such as "Wild Joy", "Original House" and "Lostcafé" appearing in Moganshan residential group will all settle in Shu Lang Village. As the first homestay in China, Shengxuan Zhu, founder of Moganshan Su Meng, will lead his partners to create a new rural dream here.

With more and more industrial and commercial capitals paying attention to Songyang, the best rural construction teams, designers and homestay makers in China have gathered here and started vigorous community construction through the form of "homestay". In the next few years, perhaps the success of Pingtian Village will be easily surpassed. It is said that Songyang will become the next Mogan Mountain, maybe we can wait and see.

Songyang is on fire, but this is only the beginning. People in the local tourism department told me that rural tourism is not the ultimate goal. What Songyang should do is to revitalize the countryside in an all-round way under the guidance of culture, and then form a benign rural development model, instead of just building one or two hot homestay villages. Everything needs to continue, and Songyang is still working hard.

This article was published in the newspaper's Private Geography.