Shilong Living Heritage Regeneration System

About The Entry

Located in a rural Bai village, this project establishes a complete chain from cultural production to value realization through minimal intervention in existing buildings. Rather than new construction, a sustainable spatial system was embedded to shift intangible cultural heritage from being “viewed” to being actively produced and participated in.

The first space serves as a co-creation gallery, employing a low-cost, fully reversible exhibition system that transforms static heritage into a dynamic platform. The gallery combines two subsystems: a Local Archive presenting a linear narrative to structure cultural understanding, and an Open Platform using modular displays to engage visitors and local creators in continuous content generation. Structures are independently built from timber and light steel, allowing disassembly and reconfiguration. Reclaimed wood from abandoned buildings integrates contemporary exhibition language with local material memory, creating adaptable spaces that preserve cultural authenticity.

The second space revitalizes a traditional Bai wooden residence through light, modular interventions. A gallery provides comprehensive insight into village history and intangible heritage, while a shop translates culture into tangible, experiential, and consumable products. Together, they form a continuous spatial experience that extends visitor engagement and stimulates the local economy. The design respects the scale and character of traditional dwellings while implementing lightweight modular systems to preserve authenticity and minimize alteration.

The project prioritizes system design over formal expression, using reversible structures, modular interfaces, and low-cost strategies to convert resource constraints into design opportunities. It creates a sustainable, evolving cultural platform that links cultural dissemination with economic activation. By embedding local craftsmanship and participatory mechanisms into minimal interventions, the project offers a replicable model for rural regeneration, demonstrating how heritage can be preserved, activated, and experienced in new ways, while fostering cultural understanding and local economic vitality.