Location: Shicang Village, Songyang
Completion: 2017.12
自古以來,契約作為交換商品和建立互信的憑據,在社會中承擔了重要角色,可謂是人類信任關系的基石。買賣、抵押、租賃、嫁娶等協作關系相應產生了不同種類的契約。契約記載和印跡著人類的宗教、歷史、文明與文化。
項目和景觀用地均沿襲梯田的地勢,與四周的村莊中心和交通流線相互呼應補充,延續并補接了村莊、廣場、交通形成的環路關系,成為連接兩個村莊重要的公共文化場所。水作為場地引導性線索,飲水渠的水流沿襲地形而下并進入村莊,輔以碎石路徑,溯源而上到達場地的過程有如尋覓,富于詩意。
"Hakka", meaning “the guest people”, immigrated to Shicang over 150 years ago and settled in with their rich Hakka heritage and systematic Hakka indenture culture, the law and keystone of Hakka society. The collection of Hakka indenture in past decades by a local elementary teacher, Mr. Que, has become biggest Hakka indenture collection and an important archive for Hakka heritage.
In fact the village name of "Shicang", meaning “stone storage”, comes from a folk legend that a magic grain cave was broken into and no longer produced grains but only stone, a broken of covenant between greedy human and magic spirits.
The museum volume sits on a terrace field and follows the original irrigation drainage from mountain into village. The building could be accessed from both sides with welcoming outdoor plaza, a free space for villagers and visitors to walk in.
The building plan is carried out with three exhibition rooms along the drainage, and local stone construction is used as building structure and retaining wall for the mountain. The interplay of indoor and outdoor, dark and light, void and volume, not only to remind an unique experiment of local multi–courtyards houses, but also to create an archaeological site contemplating village history and spirit of indenture.
A linear gap on the roof collects water from rain through the drainage to indicate a passage; the articulation of this roof gap can only allow direct sunlight into drainage during noon. A mist system is implanted to spray only around noon during the summer days. The heat and mist create a moving rainbow phenomenon when walking inside the museum.
The supporting program is distributed into adjacent village buildings as a preservation strategy. A private sector from Shanghai has engaged in this development by continuing to renovate houses into home kitchen and food workshops, home stay business, and other activities. These supporting facilities became part of the indenture museum. In another word, the whole village is a live museum for Hakka culture and heritage.