Dot Architects has completed a school library in rural China constructed in a week by amateur builders using the WikiHouse open-source architecture platform.
The Huaxia Star Library is an addition to Er-tai primary school in Hebei province, a rural community which is afflicted by high levels of poverty.
The school has 1,000 pupils, whose only library facility previously was a reading room measuring just 45 square metres. Chinese studio Dot Architects was created the standalone structure to house a dedicated library and reading room.

The library was funded by a donation from Huaxia Bank, and was constructed by students from the bank's MBA programme. This use of unskilled labour necessitated a design that was simple to construct for novice builders in a timeframe of just one week. "The design scheme of the library had to respond the special requirement of the construction process," explained Dot Architects, which was able to call on 46 volunteers to help with the build.

The library is based on an open-source system developed by the Wikihouse Foundation, which provides downloadable blueprints for simple structures that can be constructed quickly and straightforwardly.
Dot Architects previously utilised the system when designing a futuristic concept home in Beijing, while London studio HawkinsBrown used it to install 21 modular workspaces on the site of the former broadcast centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The pre-fabricated buildings comprise modu...