Bamboo Branch Academy: A Harmonious Blend of Tradition and Innovation

Archermit's Award-Winning Design Celebrates Chinese Culture and Sustainable Architecture

The Bamboo Branch Academy is a remodel of two old houses in southern Sichuan, separated into two distinct parts. The serene, well-protected house is transformed into an academy for meditation, while the noisy, severely damaged house is rebuilt into a music workshop. These two parts are connected by a corridor, creating an "image" of "surrounding the house" and an outdoor space that adds vitality to the architecture.

Archermit's design is unique in its integration of the functions of a music workshop, academy, and meditation center. The architecture is primarily in wood and white color, with materials carefully selected to reflect the features of the original building and the local landscape. New Zealand pine wood, Chinese-style tiles, white steel tube, white cement fiberboard, and local bamboo materials were used to create a unique, natural, quiet, and elegant space environment.

The design process was inspired by the symbolic imagery of bamboo branches in Chinese literature. The abstract and concrete images of bamboo branches coincided with the architectural purpose and the scene that "the bamboo trees on the hills around the village were about to reach the sky with tender shoots like clusters of green clouds" greatly impressed the designers.

The project, which spans a floor area of 533 square meters, was realized from February to May 2019 and completed in May 2020. The Bamboo Branch Academy is located in Yongjiang Village, Zhuhai Town, Changning County, Yibin, Sichuan Province. The design takes bamboo culture as the breakthrough point, combining fragments of images obtained from site survey and research with the architectural spirit of "bamboo branch".

The Bamboo Branch Academy was developed as China implemented the "rural revitalization" strategy. Its architectural purpose is to "develop the bamboo industry in accordance with local conditions, and landscape Sichuan villages with bamboo forests" and "make bamboo of Yibin an ecological gateway to introduce southern Sichuan to the world." This design was awarded Silver in A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award in 2022, a testament to its outstanding expertise and innovation.