The project team presented the renovation of the support facilities for the Qingshuiyan Ancestral Temple. This undertaking was placed within the central tourist area of this ancient temple, located in Anxi, Quanzhou, and consists of renovating an old bus station that had been deactivated after its functions were relocated.
The site possesses a unique natural and historical setting, characterized by an ancient, moss-covered Bengal Fig tree in the middle of an open square, framed by the forest. The context includes a two-story ruined station building, native rock formations, and old moss-covered paths.
The Qingshuiyan Ancestral Temple, originally built during the Northern Song Dynasty, is situated on the northern slope of Mount Penglai, which is constantly enveloped in mist. As a crucial point of popular faith for communities in Fujian, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, with over one hundred million devotees, the temple influenced the central concept of the project, which aims for harmony with nature and preservation of local heritage.
The renovation incorporates tea houses, vegetarian restaurants, and resting areas, functioning as complementary infrastructure to the ancestral temple. The guiding principle of the project is to ensure the preservation of all existing trees, promoting a balanced coexistence between the new construction and the native forest. The central ancestral fig tree acts as an organizing element to define the spatial arrangement and circulation flows.
Due to the restricted terrain and significant altitude variations, the project opted to place the main functional uses underground. Furthermore, the ground floor volume gradually recedes, and a gray transition zone is created to the east to soften the boundary between the building and the neighboring forest.
The functional arrangement closely follows the natural topography of the land. The main entrance on the ground floor serves simultaneously as a foyer and an open hall facing the square, leading to the tea house area. In this space, the rooms face a south-facing courtyard, allowing contemplation of the tree canopy to the north. The open space located to the east directly confronts the old mountain trail, which is protected by a pair of historic stone lions.
Descending to the underground level, visitors find the vegetarian restaurant's foyer. There, landscape stones from a sunken courtyard and running water establish a calm, cave-like atmosphere, leading to an outdoor courtyard shaded by trees. A service corridor runs through the forest, connecting an existing auxiliary building that has been adapted to function as a kitchen.
In front of the foyer, there is a multi-functional hall that frames the shadows of the trees and the views of distant mountains, providing access to the courtyard and a stone path that returns to the square. The second floor houses private resting areas, including a platform to the east that extends toward the forest to interact with the mountainous landscape. Additionally, a rooftop terrace, positioned to the west, offers unobstructed views of the Ancestral Temple in the distance.
The project utilizes regional materials to anchor it to its specific context. Blue stone, extracted from the ground itself, forms the natural base of the building, and its rustic masonry with a natural finish blends perfectly with the pastoral environment of the mountain forest. Exposed concrete is used in the ribbed slab molded on site for the multi-functional hall, where the grid serves an autonomous structural function and also acts as a dynamic receptacle for light, accentuating the depth of the space.
Minnan red brick, an essential local material, is used for the enclosure cladding, resulting in a uniform masonry facade. Embedded glass bricks transform the interior walls into sources of soft and warm lighting. The wooden structure deconstructs the traditional double-pitched roofs of Minnan into single-pitch units, using red ceramic tiles to maintain a historical dialogue with the Ancestral Temple.
Drawing spatial inspiration from the winding, cavern-like internal areas of the Ancestral Temple, the project implements a 'mezzanine' transition zone inspired by traditional Minnan fortress buildings, generating a rhythm of spatial compression and expansion. The landscape planning focuses on enhancing the existing environment, with minimal artificial interventions to shape three thematic landscape zones that follow the natural relief, integrating Zen aesthetics and narrating the progression of time.
In summary, the project integrates the peculiarities of the terrain, draws inspiration from the Qingshuiyan Ancestral Temple, and extracts the local construction logic, resulting in architecture that emerges from the site and will, in the future, merge again with the rocks and the forest, creating a space in harmony with its surroundings and history.