The Driftwood Village Center
Site
The Driftwood Village Center is located on the bank of a reservoir in Liugang Village, Xinyang, forming a spatial layout of “three-sided scenery.” To the east lie vast rice fields; to the north, the residential clusters of Liugang Village; to the south, the irrigation reservoir; and to the west, the terrain merges into Phoenix Mountain. As a source of agricultural irrigation, the reservoir experiences seasonal fluctuations in water level due to farming needs. The daily agrarian life of the villagers revolves around this water body.
Designed as a shared space for villagers during the farming off-season, the Village Center includes a tea room, reading lounge, and a villagers’ assembly hall. The spatial arrangement is conceived in response to the agricultural environment and the periodic changes in reservoir water levels. Through its form, the architecture establishes a dialogue with the surrounding mountains and farmland, becoming a medium that connects agrarian life with the natural landscape.
The texture of the fields and paths
The villagers’ agricultural life is closely tied to the reservoir, which is surrounded by a well-preserved natural environment rich in aquatic plants and inhabited by waterfowl. The construction aims to minimize disturbance to this native ecology.
The “grain of the fields” shaped by fine farming practices is the site’s most distinctive feature. The architecture integrates humbly into the agricultural landscape, preserving existing field ridges and native vegetation. The building form is derived directly from the surrounding environment.
A stretch of the dike path along the reservoir was chosen as the cue for the architectural circulation, allowing the floor plan to naturally extend from both ends, making the building an organic continuation of the dike road. The design follows an environment-sensitive generative logic: the building is embedded within the original dike fabric, while a raised platform adapts to fluctuations in water levels. The native plant system is preserved as an ecological buffer zone, forming a seamless transition between the building and the water body.
Timber Construction
To minimize disruption to the reservoir’s shoreline, the building platform is designed as an elevated structure, leaving a 55 cm cavity beneath it to house HVAC systems and water-electric pipelines. The platform elevation is raised 20 cm above the historical highest water level of the reservoir, ensuring flood safety.
The main structure is timber-framed with steel bolt connections, using gable frame systems with pitched roofs. Four hyperbolic main beams serve as the roof’s key structural elements, complemented by evenly spaced secondary beams. The curved form follows the meandering dike, responding to the natural terrain and creating structural self-stability. The interior is a column-free space, minimizing spatial interruption.
All building components are designed for cost-effective processing and transportation, prefabricated in factories and assembled on-site. This significantly reduces the environmental impact of construction and shortens the construction period.
Shape forms with landscapes
The curved curtain walls on both ends of the building face Phoenix Mountain and the reservoir respectively, drawing the exterior landscape into the interior through open sightlines. Entrances align with both ends of the dike; before entering, one passes through a lowered eave-covered transitional space. As visitors move inside, the two corridors gradually rise and converge into a column-free, full-height hall.
As one walks through the space, the mountains, farmlands, and reservoir are continuously reframed through architectural openings, offering ever-changing vistas. On the west side, folding doors can be fully opened to connect with the outdoor terrace, blurring the boundary between inside and outside, allowing light and wind to flow freely through the space.
