IN SITU

Drawings, pictures and movies

 

Research by design

Master thesis selection

 

Collaborative Project

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IN SITU

 

TENTATIVE DESIGNS

 

RESEARCH BY DESIGN

 

Introduction

Youyang-lab is a project of international cooperation between the Chongqing Jiaotong University (CQJTU) and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) to organize research on the conservation and restoration of Tujia traditional villages. It is focused on ethnic traditions, the natural and cultural landscapes of traditional villages and their specific modes of construction.

On April 6,Since 2016, the official website of the Chongqing Jiaotong University (China) relayed the following information emanating from its College of Architecture and Urban Planning :

受重庆市外国专家局委托,我校国际合作交流处与建筑城规学院联合策划并实施的重庆交通⼤学与⽐利时鲁汶⼤学国际合作交流项⽬“⾣阳⼟家族传统村落保护与修复⽅法研究”于2016年4⽉正式启动。

« A project of international cooperation and exchanges has officially been launched to organize research on the conservation and restoration of Tujia traditional villages. » The article further announced that the Chongqing Jiaotong University and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) were starting a cooperation focused on ethnic traditions, the natural and cultural landscapes of traditional villages and their specific modes of construction.

This announcement signaled the effective beginning of a collaborative project that had been underway since the start of 2016, and whose first step consisted in an exploratory mission involving several representatives of the UCL-LOCI-Brussels campus.

It marked the first stages of a partnership aimed at protecting and promoting the wooden constructions of the autonomous Tujia and Miao minority villages established primarily in the territory of Youyang County, located 350 km from Chongqing City, in the southern part of the Chongqing province.

General context

This project of cooperation arose from a report prepared by the governmental and academic authorities of the Chongqing province on the issue of the disappearance of the rural architectural heritage of the province and the need to establish means of safeguarding and promoting it. The wish of these authorities is to build a collaborative project within the realm of architecture Following the visit in early 2016 of a Chinese delegation led by agronomist professor and researcher Che Xingbi, the Chinese officials who were seeking an opportunity to collaborate with an educational institution of Belgian architecture were sufficiently impressed by the expertise of the LOCI faculty in the field of heritage to envisage collaboration with this faculty.

An official invitation was then sent by the Chongqing Bureau for Foreign Experts Affairs to the LOCI faculty regarding trip to evaluate the situation in situ. Upon their arrival, four experts from the LOCI-Brussels campus were welcomed by local officials of the Province and of the Chongqing Jiaotong University for preliminary conversations and a 6-day exploratory mission on site. On this occasion, the Chongqing Jiaotong University College of Architecture and Urban Planning was designated as partner for the conduct of this mission and its future development.

The Chongqing Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs under the instigation of its Director, Mrs. Lei Hong, helped in the mission’s expenses and its logistical support.

Main issues

In order to grasp the general focus of the mission, it is important to understand the geopolitical context of the province of Chongqing, whose status was changed by two major factors: the first one stems from the fact that the city of Chongqing is located at the edge of a 600 km water reservoir created by the completion, between 1994 and 2000, of the gigantic Three Gorges dam. The second factor is that Beijing has made Chongqing the new capital of Western China in order to restore some balance to the country’s economy, overly dependant on the East coast. With its 32 million inhabitants, Chongqing is one of the newest Chinese metropolitan city and an autonomous municipality since 1999. In Chongqing, the State launched a special economic zone of 1,200 square kilometers aimed at revitalizing the surrounding areas, which form a market of 240 million people.

The most deprived rural regions in the province are drawn to the new metropolises and there is an exodus of their inhabitants who leave for cities in hopes of finding work and improving their quality of life. As a result, in many villages, the traditional wooden houses are abandoned and deteriorate rapidly for lack of maintenance. As this heritage disappears, it tends to be replaced by constructions in concrete block, often self-built, that meet the basic standards of comfort and a certain modernity. This situation has led the province’s political leaders to realize how important and urgent it is to preserve this exceptional built heritage and they favor the use of traditional methods for its reconstruction. More information about this collaborative project.

Key partners