Sharing, unmanned systems, and intelligence—concepts once limited to big cities—have now become reality in Xikou Town.
On September 18, 2020, Quzhou City officially unveiled the “Quzhou Rural Future Community Indicator System and Construction Guidelines.” Concurrently, the opening ceremony for the Xikou Rural Future Community Launch Zone in Longyou County took place, marking the first rural future community launch zone under development in Quzhou.
△ Virtual Tour | “Second Brother” guides you through the Longyou Xikou Future Community
Design Background
Established in 1959, Huangnishan Community is a historic living area for pyrite mine workers, housing over 500 households and more than 1,000 residents. The area features 31 houses in various styles, characterized by red walls, green tiles, and surrounded by robust water spruce and pine trees, evoking the nostalgia of an old film.
Design Goal: Rooted in Nostalgia, Linked to the Future
The project aims to preserve a gentle nostalgia for slower times, reviving historical memories and dreams, while simultaneously building a future community that nurtures the close-knit neighborly bonds of the past.
Revitalization Strategy: Scene Revitalization
The community development expands upon the urban concept of “Three Modernizations and Nine Scenarios,” adapting it to rural settings with a focus on humanization, ecological balance, and integration. The nine scenes include health, education, transportation, rural aesthetics, homesickness, heritage, sharing, entrepreneurship, and countryside life. By organically combining these elements, the goal is to create a vibrant, unique rural future community in Xikou Town that offers integrated, customized services for residents, visitors, administrators, and businesses alike.
Scene design respects the local characteristics of the Xikou pyrite workers’ community by preserving historical architectural styles while incorporating modern design language. The project aims to honor nostalgia, embrace progress, and foster a dialogue between history and the future.
Bird’s-eye view comparison before and after renovation.
The future community landscape emphasizes quality living, addressing the full spectrum of community life services with a people-centered, ecological, and digital approach. It aims to establish a sustainable, intelligent service ecosystem that fulfills people’s aspirations for a better life.
Overall plan and panoramic aerial view of Phase I.
Township Features: Shared Canteen, Rural Auditorium, Neighborhood Square
This area serves as a rural gathering spot and a future architectural showcase blending art and style. Originally the residential zone for Juhua Pyrite Mine families, Xikou’s “Rural Future Community” includes industrial-style buildings no taller than three stories, such as a hospital, dance hall, school for workers’ children, and auditorium. The renovated complex and plaza offer greater openness and have become the community’s most iconic and nostalgic spaces.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Before renovation.
After renovation, the sloping roof unites scattered buildings, enhancing spatial cohesion and aesthetic appeal.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
The previously monotonous façades are now unified under lightweight roofs, integrating functions and connecting spaces effectively.
Building gable analysis diagram.
△ Exploded view analysis diagram.
△ Construction process analysis diagram.
Rural Flavor: Shared Canteen
Local delicacies such as Longyou Steamed Chinese Sponge Cake, Xikou Bacon Bamboo Shoots, Muchen Reservoir Fish, and Sanqu Stone Forest Chicken are revived in the community’s shared canteen. The original staff canteen has been transformed to offer meal delivery services to residents over 80 years old in Huangnishan Community, while also serving public and visitor dining needs.
Before and after renovation comparison: Brick by brick, the building remains unchanged, but the formerly solid mountain wall facade is cleverly converted into an open, inviting public entrance space.
The design echoes the original architecture, forming an organic roof. Combined with white square steel and punched metal panels, the new entrance breathes fresh life into the historic mining and industrial heritage.
Before and after renovation comparison: The repeated structural design not only preserves the original form but also introduces a fresh sense of order and spatial tension.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Rural Life: Community Auditorium
The auditorium next to the shared canteen has been renovated from an old cinema, mirroring the original roof style while adding semi-outdoor spaces. It now serves as a vibrant neighborhood venue embodying the saying, “Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors.”
Open to the public, the auditorium hosts community forums, local events, and county-wide activities. Online booking is available to maximize usage. A vintage movie projector offers elderly residents a chance to reminisce about past struggles and memories.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Sunlight filters through perforated panels on the mottled red brick walls, breathing new life into the old structure.
Neighbor: Community Service Box
Three white, small boxes nestled beneath green trees present a fresh, elegant look. These community boxes serve as future service points designed to provide a “zero-distance, high-quality life.” Inside, popular leisure facilities include a fresh tea bar, Tmall Genie smart assistant, shared karaoke, intelligent storage lockers, unmanned vending machines, and medical cabinets—offering convenient services to residents, makers, and visitors.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
The interior features a clean white palette with amenities including changing rooms, storage, self-service beverage stations, and a playful water bar where residents and makers can enjoy fresh juices and conversations.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
At night, soft lighting illuminates the neighborhood box. The water bar glows like a timeless oasis, inviting visitors to linger quietly under the night sky.
Neighbor: Community Co-working Space
The original staff guesthouse has been revitalized through door and window replacements and exterior facade repairs, transforming it into a co-working community that aligns with trends in future lifestyles and employment. This space fosters mass innovation and entrepreneurship, offering shared office services and support to rural talents and returning young entrepreneurs.
The interior features public zones and private offices equipped with coffee bars, table tennis rooms, yoga studios, smart digital devices, unified access control, and security monitoring. Meetings and office spaces can be reserved online.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Rural Education: Shared Library
Integrated with the entrepreneurship community, the shared library offers a space for reading, learning, and socializing that meets educational needs across the community. It supports a lifelong learning culture by organizing book donation drives, rewarding participants with community credit points, and fostering a vibrant social circle that encourages offline activities and community engagement.
△ Before and after renovation comparison; the bright, fresh library is nestled within lush greenery.
This pilot program implements a points reward mechanism: through government-led book delivery initiatives and community participation, residents can exchange books for points redeemable for daily necessities, free parking, housekeeping, childcare, and more.
Sports Area: Smart Sports Field
The original basketball court and green space have been transformed into a smart sports field that promotes a culture of health and vitality. Rebuilt with vibrant colors and equipped with smart short-video recording to capture exercise moments, the field doubles as a social hotspot and a place for friendly competition, reflecting the values of friendship, unity, and fair play.
In June 2020, the first basketball league in the Xikou Rural Future Community revived the area’s long-lost energy. The dormant Huangnishan pyrite community awakened, moving many elderly residents to tears as they recalled the vibrant scenes from over 20 years ago.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Themed lighting inspired by the Sunbao IP and struggle culture highlights the basketball court, embodying Huangnishan’s heritage. The lively colors energize athletes, while the smart court integrates technology for endless enjoyment. Cultural chairs and stadium lights add to the festive atmosphere.
Before and after renovation comparison: The smart basketball court has breathed new life into the area, awakening the dormant pyrite and yellow earth hills.
Smart stadium renovation analysis.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Community Interaction: Maker Garden
The design lightly intervenes in the original water pool, preserving the semi-enclosed forest space, removing cluttered rockeries, and replacing them with a steel-grid dry fountain. The petal-shaped fountain walls and surrounding planting beds have been transformed into playful seating areas, creating a relaxed and comfortable low-carbon neighborhood gathering place.
△ Before and after renovation comparison.
Before renovation.
After renovation, the rockery pool has become a dry fountain, opening the enclosed space for villagers to sit, relax, and socialize.
Maker Garden renovation analysis diagram.
△ Before and after renovation comparison: Maker Garden has become a favored spot for neighbors, especially during warm summer nights when children gather to play joyfully around the fountains.
Conclusion
Following the completion of the first phase of the Future Community, vibrant scenes have returned: young people sweat on the smart sports field under evening lights; children play around the colorful stadium track watched over by their families; elder residents relax on wooden benches near the dry fountain square; delicious, affordable meals are served in the shared canteen; laughter fills the neighborhood box, enhanced by smart facilities; and the shared library offers a serene environment cherished by locals.
The half-century-old Soviet-style architecture, weathered by time, now embraces a new mission. Through the seamless integration of shared offices, innovative governance, neighborhood interaction, creative architecture, low-carbon living, and smart sports, once-quiet spaces have become vibrant public living rooms, embodying the spirit of “Xikou Commune, Happy Hometown.” Everyone can find a place here to connect with this theme.
Project Information
Project Name: Future Community Planning and Design for Longyou Xikou Rural Edition, Quzhou, Zhejiang Province
Project Type: Preliminary Planning of Future Community – Architecture, Landscape, Interior Design
Location: Huangnishan Community, Xikou Town, Longyou County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Design Units: Xiangban Zhu Shengxuan Studio / Shanghai Times Architecture Design Institute
Owner: Xikou Town People’s Government, Longyou County, Quzhou City
Construction: Xiangban Construction Group / Shanghai Huajian Jingyu
Design Website: __AI_S_TURL_0__
Status: Completed
Design Period: October 2019 to November 2019
Construction Period: December 2019 to May 2020
Site Area: 1.24 hectares
Building Area: Approximately 3,294 square meters
Owner: Xikou Town People’s Government, Longyou County
Total Investment: 12.878 million yuan
Design Team
Project Manager: Zhu Shengxuan
Lead Designers: Zheng Guangqiang, Zhu Zhen, Yuan Junhong
Project Planning: Rao Zhong, Wei Hongjian, Guo Zhulin, Gao Yanling, Wang Ti, Wang Ziyi, Zheng Hui, et al.
Architectural Design: Tang Ji, Xu Yifeng, Liu Qiong, Zhu Tingting, Chen Tianyi, et al.
Landscape Design: Ma Liying, Su Qi, Cao Chang, Wang Xiaolong, Pan Wei, Fan Hanwei, Jiao Wen, Zhang Yuchao, Nie Yunjun, Tong Haiqing, Xu Ruochen, Wen Congzheng, Han Long, et al.
Interior Design: Zheng Yajing, Huang Xiaoqian, Fang Lu, Zhang Tianyi, Shen Ruiyi, et al.
Site Design: Wu Wenbin, Gong Yi, Mei Lan, Huang Wuhua, Wang Chunyong, Gao Xinfei, Chen Guowei, Chen Zheng, Chen Siyu, et al.
Cultural and Creative Design: Zhang Qingqing, Li Yanting, Tong Yuyang, Zhang Zhiyao, et al.
Photography: E.Lit Light and Shadow Space, Wang Xiaolong
Author: Sun Zheng
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