Selected projects

Settlement & landscape · Danling, Sichuan

Xingfu Ridge

Local earth,
shared making

At Xingfu Ridge, Weibing Liu worked with local residents to make earth bricks for a guesthouse cluster beside Xingfu Ancient Village. Small buildings follow the hillside, while a wastewater system combines anaerobic treatment with a constructed wetland.

Design
May 2021
Completed
September 2022
Site area
14,218.43 m²
Floor area
4,831 m²
Xingfu Ridge in its hillside setting. Photography: Arch-Exist.

Concept sketch

Settlement and
landscape

The concept sketch brings pitched-roof buildings, paths and vegetation into a shared hillside setting.

It provides a spatial introduction to the project’s work with local earth bricks, resident participation and wastewater treatment within the landscape.

Xingfu Ridge, concept sketch. Studio project archive.

Place & scale

At the scale
of the village

The buildings form a cluster of smaller volumes along the hillside. Their scale extends that of the neighbouring village and connects the guesthouses with the existing settlement.

Courtyards and paths connect the buildings within the landscape. Local earth bricks link their construction with the work of residents who helped produce them.

Courtyards, paths and people. Photography: Arch-Exist.

Local materials & collaboration

Local earth,
made together

Local residents took part in producing the earth bricks.

The earth bricks form part of a hybrid wall assembly, connecting local material choices with the wider construction of the guesthouse cluster.

Making with residents
Making earth bricks with local residents. Studio project archive.
Material detail
Earth bricks, material detail. Photography: Weibing Liu.

People & process

Participation through making

Residents participated in producing the earth bricks used in the guesthouse cluster. Local sourcing and participation connect the material with the people involved in construction.

2023 studio announcement: a rural training base

Material & construction

Part of a hybrid wall

Earth bricks are used within a hybrid wall assembly. The close view records the individual shapes and textured surfaces of the stacked bricks.

Wastewater & landscape

Treatment within
the landscape

The wastewater system combines anaerobic treatment with a horizontal subsurface-flow constructed wetland. The project diagram records the sequence from domestic wastewater collection to the outlet system and onward flow into the local pipe network.

Site photographs connect the diagram with the treatment area, planted wetland and outlet collection channel.

System sequence

English sequence based on the project diagram

  1. 01

    Collection inlet

    Domestic wastewater

  2. 02

    Septic tank

  3. 03

    Equalisation tank

    With screen

  4. 04

    Anaerobic system

  5. 05

    Constructed wetland

    Horizontal subsurface flow

  6. 06

    Outlet system

    Ornamental-fish channel; onward flow to the local pipe network

Original project diagram. Studio project archive.

Showing the project diagram.

Wastewater treatment site. Photography: Weibing Liu.
Constructed wetland and outlet collection channel. Studio project archive.

Circularity & continuity

Local resources,
shared knowledge

The concept sketch introduces the relationships between buildings, paths and the hillside. In construction, earth bricks made with residents connect material choices with shared knowledge. Alongside this work, anaerobic treatment and a constructed wetland address wastewater within the landscape.

Circularity across the practice
Completed courtyard. Studio project archive.

Project credits

Lead architect
Weibing Liu
Design practice
Sichuan David Architectural Design
Client
Danling County Culture and Tourism Bureau
Location
Danling, Meishan, Sichuan, China
Recognition
Asian Townscape Awards 2022

Photography: Arch-Exist and Weibing Liu. Additional images: studio project archive. System sequence transcribed from the project diagram.

Chengdu, Sichuan, China

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Project photograph