Chinese practice Atelier Xi has completed Peach Hut, a tinted concrete community pavilion and bar overlooking a field of peach trees in Henan Province.
The Shenzhen-based practice was initially approached to design a 300-square-metre arts centre in Xiuwu, but proposed that its scattered rural communities would be better served by a more dispersed series of small pavilions.
Atelier Xi has created a peach-coloured pavilion in Xiuwu
Peach Hut is the first to complete in this "miniature series", which will see seven concrete pavilions built in contrasting locations across a 630-square-kilometre area, providing various facilities to their local communities.
"The long-term drawbacks of remote rural areas include insufficient educational resources, inadequate information access and scant aesthetic imagination," said the practice. The building is made of coloured concrete
"Through these minimal architecture investments, the project aims to inspire local residents, to help them enjoy and rethink their quality of life, as well as alleviate isolation and poverty."
The sculptural form of Peach Hut was informed by the leaning peach trees in the surrounding landscape, with the pavilion's in-situ cast form of pigmented concrete appearing cut through by a series of arcs.
Its sculptural form is modelled on leaning peach trees
These arcs create a low, glazed entrance that curves upwards, and another curved section that projects out to the west, ending in a full-...