The prototype house in Guangming Village has been named World Building of The Year 2017

The World Building of The Year 2017 was announced on November 17, 2017 at the tenth World Architecture Festival: the post-earthquake reconstruction project for the village of Guangming in China by The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
A little over a year after the One Night event at FAB Architectural Bureau in Milan focusing on contingency architecture, we are happy to note growing international interest in housing problems caused by natural disasters and human actions such as the migrations consequent upon war and poverty.

A tendency we also noted at the Mies Van der Rohe Award 2017, confirmed by the awarding of the World Building of The Year 2017 award to a reconstruction project following the 2014 earthquake that destroyed most of the buildings in the village of Guangming.
The prototype house, built for an elderly couple in the village, offers a practical demonstration of how the system fine-tuned by The Chinese University of Hong Kong gives villagers a safe, sustainable, economical reconstruction strategy.
A process that starts with re-use of traditional building techniques and materials with the addition of today’s technological know-how and can be replicated in other poor countries with similar seismic problems. WAF director Paul Finch noted how the architects managed to transform "four walls and a roof" into a wider-ranging, deeper reflection on design, demonstrating the key role that architecture can play in all layers of society.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Location: Guangming, China

Image courtesy of World Architecture Festival www.worldarchitecturefestival.com

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