Architecture firm atelier tao+c has completed the Longyou Tourist Center, a 178-square-meter cultural facility that serves as both a gathering place for tourists and a community hub for local villagers in Quzhou, China. The project, completed in 2023 and photographed by Wen Studio, represents a thoughtful architectural intervention that respects the existing rural context while introducing contemporary functionality.

Situated at the entrance of Tingtangxu Village, the center is part of the Hushiguang Art Eco Site, a rural art festival that unfolds along the Qu River. The site features a typical household containing a late Qing dynasty house, a courtyard with a tree, and a kitchen annex added in the 1990s. Each household in the village adopts vernacular architecture with irregular front yards, their shapes delineated by interwoven village paths that reflect generations of neighborly negotiations and serve as a spatial reflection of the rural social structure.

The architects created a light-footprint shed that serves dual purposes as both a resting stop for tourists and a meeting spot for villagers to casually chat when entering or leaving the village. This design allows local residents and tourists to encounter each other and communicate naturally. The intervention includes a single-column passage that wraps around the perimeter of the site, following the oblique shape demarcated by the riverside road, village paths, and shared walls with neighbors.

The design cuts out a rectangular courtyard parallel to the shared wall and positioned at a 5-degree angle to the main house. This establishment of passages clarifies the site's boundaries and creates an intermediate threshold between the road and main house, filtering out noise while allowing river breezes to pass through. The four sides of the eaves are divided into three different heights, responding to various usage needs and the surrounding environment.

Close to the village road, the passage cuts diagonally through the original kitchen annex, forming a café window, then slightly lowers to create an entrance facing the road. Next to the neighbor's boundary wall, the eave gets lower and adopts the existing tree. It then turns to face the old house while maintaining a respectful distance, avoiding disruption to the main house's front facade.

Inside the antique house, the architects removed infilled wooden wall panels and floor slabs to reveal the clear structure of the old building. A galvanized steel framework threads through the old rafters, touching them lightly without causing damage and unifying an internal programmatic system with display areas, seating, and lighting. The ground is overlaid with black epoxy resin, with all newly inserted materials featuring smooth and glossy finishes to accentuate the original fabric.

The tourist lobby adopts a passive preservation approach, using but not occupying the space, inserting but not renovating. Without erasing historical traces, the aging timber structure and weathered surfaces remain untouched in their gradual decay. The materials used for the passages and interior insertions are industrial standard galvanized steel tubes and stainless steel corrugated plates, which can be easily purchased at local building material stores and cut and welded on site.

This strategic use of common materials echoes vernacular construction methods seen in village sheds, helping the intervention blend seamlessly into the rural context. The design team, led by Tao Liu and including Chunyan Cai, Guoxiong Liu, and Xiangfei Tong, worked with Beijing Jianyan Urban Renewal Engineering Technology Co. LTD. as the construction team, with products supplied by ziinlife.

In this rural renovation project, the architects maintained awareness of being outsiders, coming in gently and speaking softly. Through temporary and reversible interventions that seek balance between rewriting and preservation, the design reserves possibilities for future transformations while respecting the village's historical character and social fabric.