With the heightening of ecological and social crises all around the world, architects have had to re-evaluate their role, impact, and design approach. As the "new needs" of people arise, new architectural processes must be explored to answer them. However, this still comes with much resistance from the standing practices and push for financial gain that often makes it difficult to implement more comprehensive solutions. These notions led the CCA (Canadian Center for Architecture) to launch their new 3-part film and exhibit series called " Groundwork", curated by the associate director, Francesco Garutti. Through this project, the CCA selected and followed three renowned contemporary architects/practices as they developed their concepts and field research, which allowed them to engage respectfully with their site and residing communities. It's an up close and personal look into what motivates the selected architects to examine alternative ways of designing and the challenges they go through as the three parallel stories unfold.
The first exhibit opening and movie screening was held in May 2024, followed by an in-conversation event with the program curator and architect, where the question of "What is architecture today" was discussed. The exhibit and its many showcased elements, channels visitors along to the first site exploration with DnA's Xu Tiantian as she ventures "Into the Island" of Meizhou, China, in the summer of 2022.
We are living in a moment in which the capacity of the architect to be an agent of change, being able to shape, is limited by different factors, such as speculations and different forms of regulation, which are impacting their capacity in a moment of ecological collapse. I think whether we actually have to be actors or not is very urgent to refract upon and debate, how do we intervene or what do we do with our existing building stock and with what we have?._Francesco Garutti
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Restoring a Symbol of Collective Memory: Holcim Award Winner Xu Tiantian Discusses the Impact of Adaptive ReuseThroughout their large-scale projects in China, DnA have been able to instill a responsible approach. A major part of their process involves getting to know the town/city, its history and the local community, with the help of non-design or construction specialists, such as social workers, ecologists, food scientists, and other diverse professionals that ensure a thorough understanding of the existing site. This cross-disciplinary and considerate design approach echoed the Groundwork premise and thus emerged the first story.
The Meizhou Island project resonated closely with architect Xu Tiantian, as it was a place she'd previously explored near her hometown of Putian. The island welcomes as many as 3 million visitors a year, mainly during specific high seasons, for their pilgrimage to the site of the sea goddess Mazu. The Meizhou town administration called on DnA to work on a "museum" that would manage the tourist flux and still stretch their attention to the island yearlong. Having accepted the task, one thing was very clear to Xu Tiantian, as she expresses it in the film: the "Real life of the island was ignored by the visitors."
The island is an environment where religious pilgrimages and mass tourism, archaic farming techniques, and strict conservation policies co-exist in a fragile balance._CCA
From then on, the self-assigned challenge for the architect was to blend in and integrate a community of more than 1000 families in hopes of learning enough and restoring their rural identity. It was time to understand the issues by following the locals, which wasn't too different from DnA's usual method in such cases, where cautiousness and local understanding were always at the essence. It was then that Xu Tian Tian referred to one of her guiding concepts, the "minimal intervention" approach.
That is where the film starts, as Xu Tiantian investigates various zones on the island, from fishing docks to off-shore floating fish farms and large oyster-growing plains that disappear as the tide rises. She travels with site engineers and ecology specialists, discovering the biodiversity around the island, and jokes with fishermen as she goes to sea with them and understands their recent financial struggles. There's a storyline that is being built as the documentary unravels, which explains the design concept, one that's unlike any other.
The resulting idea is to develop a "Diffused Life Museum", which would not only showcase the religious sites that tourists customarily flock to but would entice them to go around the entire island and discover its maritime beauty and traditions. Xu Tiantian identifies and focuses on six areas that will undergo "precise interventions", whether they be restoration, enlargement, or minimal adjustment/re-assignation (ex. Closing off an area to allow native species repopulation). There's an effort at re-orchestrating the local practices with the dominating and sometimes harsh seaside nature and its diminishing maritime species.
The highlighted interventions of the film and exhibit included the vast mudland cultivation trail, which was an important stop along the Groundwork film. That particular site was quite relevant as it tackled two of the main difficulties of the project. Firstly, the plain has scattered stone pillars meant for oysters to grow on. The sea covers the pillars, only pulling back from the shore twice a day. This makes for difficult cultivation when compared to imported oyster cultivation techniques, thus touching on the topic of farmers' financial viability. Secondly, the unyielding tides represent the imposing nature that Xu Tiantian had to consider in her interventions. The solution is a smart and minimal design that gives way to nature but also invites visitors to cross the plain as salvaged pillars are placed in a 100-meter-wide circle around a tidal island to create a walkable trail through the seascape.
A second relevant stop the architect and filmmaker focus on is the mangrove research base, set within the Xitingao Mangrove Ecological Park. In this particular case, special attention was given to the species that live within the mangroves instead of the researchers or tourists that might covet the naturally rich site. The proposal was an adaptive reuse of the existing stones to mimic a natural tidal pool that would allow the growth of biodiversity. The decision, in this case, was once more of a limited physical implication. All the more, this particular intervention came about with a decision to limit human access to the areas, hence allowing biodiversity to increase.
While the team did visit many other sites, one that stands out is the seaweed ecology center. Within it are old seaweed incubator buildings where microscopic seedlings are grown in shallow pools housed in passive buildings unique to the region. The buildings are quite unusual and specifically set up for their purpose. But once again, as the cultivation is a long stemming process, and the incubators had fallen into disrepair, this affected the villagers' income, making what was once a trade of 1000 families one maintained by 50 families only. The proposed project is initially to restore the existing buildings and make them into working museums, where visitors would be able to see the farmers in action, thus generating more exposure and hopefully revising the craft, as was accomplished in DnA's Tofu Factory at Caizhai Village.
The remaining sites were the Off-shore Cooperative, shown in the documentary, the Renewable Water Facility, and the Intangible Heritage Square. All of the latter also bought various adapted solutions for their site and users.
While the easier choice might have been to directly build a museum that serves tourists and encourages them to visit the island more often, Xu Tiantian's choice to change the way architects "Make Projects" pushes for a longer-term and more beneficial outcome for the inhabitants and native species as well as the temporary tourists. Through deliberate and astute decisions, some as hardline as not to build or to close off certain areas, the designer can attract people to move around Meizhou island and educate locals as to how to revive and revel in their trades. These minimal interventions have the goal of generating chain reactions; the key is to know just What to do and How much before Stopping and letting nature run its course. DnA's skill was to account for the balance between the locals, seasons, climate, species, and ecosystem evolving – There is even consideration of the ephemerality of materials.
This first iteration of Groundwork, in China, showcased how a thoughtful process can "Turn Architecture and Design into a Social Strategy", as Xu Tiantian explained, and " Boost circulation within the island for overall well-being".
The series continues in Berlin, Germany with a focus on the work of bplus.xyz (b+), as they launch a European Citizens' Initiative, intended to shift culture and legislation toward the preservation and rehabilitation of existing buildings. The culmination of the exhibit and third part of the film takes place in Minas Gerais, Brazil where Carla Juaçaba is developing pavilions in a coffee field—minimal support structures in a territory where collectives are resisting extractive industrial agriculture.
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Designing for the Common Good. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.
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