A translucent garden pavilion made from 3D-printed plastic blocks provides a lightweight counterpoint to a robust, stone-clad house by AZL Architects in the Chinese village of Shanyinwu.
The Nanjing-based practice designed LEI House for a local businesswoman who wanted the property to encapsulate the values of her bed and breakfast brand, and promote her idea of sustainable rural development.

The village in Tonglu County in Hangzhou is typical of many rural Chinese communities, where many of the houses have been modernised or rebuilt in the past decade. This action is often conducted without input from architects, with the traditional qualities of the buildings generally lost during the renovation process.
LEI House occupies a sloping plot facing a valley and reservoir, with hillside rising behind it. The square three-storey building aligns with its neighbours and allows plenty of space for an open courtyard garden.
The owner, who wanted to be able to live in the house at the same time as offering accommodation to travellers, asked for it to be built using local methods and materials to help tie it in with the vernacular of the village.
"The house has a brick and concrete structure that is most commonly used by local artisans," the studio explained.
"The three-storey height, the simple vertical volume and the limited window openings together with the exceptionally compact interior space almost dated back to the old rammed-earth houses in the local area.&qu...