Design Educates Awards 2022

The House of Dreams is a unique revitalization of an abandoned cave settlement in Zhoushan village into a Rural Development Training Centre. Designed by Insitu Project with involvement of Lian Jun and the elderly village community, the project recovered 19 caves and constructed a series of new buildings around three sunken courtyards. The project’s 3 aims were: the reconstruction of the caves; the recovery of traditions and skills; and the restoration of collective memories. The project name derives from the memories of the villagers of their childhood in the caves, and recollections of family life which now exist only as their dreams. The use of waste materials in the walls and courtyards makes physical the collective memories of the cave dwelling life. To enable this, as a part of the design and construction concept, villagers with no previous construction experience were trained in an innovative construction process to construct walls and surfaces using discarded construction and building waste. Very few detail drawings were produced for the project. The project realization therefore arises from the collective creativity of 80 villagers. Four key architecture concepts structured the project: 1. Diversity of cave reconstructions: The community decided that cave revitalisation and new cave structures were to be diverse: earth cave, grey-brick arch cave, red-brick arch, extended structure, vaults, conical arch structures, and cantilevered cave structures. 2. Rural revitalisation: The project should initiate rural development in a step by step community run cultural planning process as a social paradigm. 3. Cyclical material economy: Construction to be done using recycled construction waste, aimed towards circular and more sustainable practices and increasing villager skills and training in construction and reducing cost. 4. Enhance environmental planning and passive micro-climate principles