Suspended firewood walls enclose Shanshui Firewood Garden in Sichuan

Hidden between bamboo groves and ponds in Anshi Village, Yibin, Shanshui Firewood Garden draws deeply from the architectural traditions and agricultural rhythms of western Sichuan. Conceived as an interpretation of the region’s vernacular dwellings, the project transforms familiar rural materials and spatial patterns into a contemporary architectural landscape shaped by light, texture, and atmosphere.

Set behind Nianpan Mountain within a network of narrow village lanes, scattered fields, and dense vegetation, the building occupies a quiet site almost concealed within the terrain. Rather than imposing a monumental presence, the architecture unfolds gradually through the landscape, extending outward beneath expansive eaves and curved walls that frame water, bamboo, and sky.

Traditional Sichuan houses provided the conceptual foundation for the project. Known for their lightweight timber structures, deep overhanging roofs, and porous relationship with climate, these dwellings were designed to balance ventilation, shelter, and openness. Courtyard spaces traditionally functioned as the emotional center of domestic life, connecting residents to sunlight, rain, and seasonal change.

Shanshui Firewood Garden reinterprets these principles through a cross shaped spatial organization embedded within the natural site. The layout expands slowly outward toward the surrounding ponds, while large roof planes extend beyond the walls to create shaded transitional spaces between architecture and landscape.

At the center, a curved courtyard gathers the different volumes into a continuous spatial sequence. Circular forms and flowing walls create an atmosphere that feels both grounded and fluid, echoing the movement of streams and wind through the village landscape.

Materiality becomes the project’s primary architectural language. Firewood, long embedded in the agricultural culture of Anshi Village, is transformed into a tactile cladding system suspended across the walls. The layered wooden elements recall the weathered textures of traditional mud walls and timber structures found throughout the region.

Red sandstone, sourced from the mountains of Sichuan, forms another essential layer of the building. Machine cut stone blocks are assembled in fish scale like formations, producing richly textured surfaces that shift constantly under changing light conditions.

Above, small blue roof tiles complete the composition, establishing a dialogue between wood, stone, and ceramic surfaces. Together, the materials create an architecture rooted in the memory of rural construction while reinterpreted through a more contemporary spatial language.

Moving through the building becomes a choreographed experience of shadow, reflection, and material depth. Beneath the wide eaves, light filters across firewood walls and curved stone surfaces before converging around the calm circular water courtyard at the center of the project.

As daylight shifts throughout the day, the layered materials create changing patterns of shadow and reflection that animate the architecture like a sundial. Firewood, red sandstone, black roof tiles, water, and sky merge into a continuous atmospheric composition shaped equally by climate and time.

Rather than separating architecture from its surroundings, Shanshui Firewood Garden dissolves boundaries between building, material, and landscape. The project transforms vernacular references into a contemporary spatial experience where locality, memory, and temporality are inseparable.

Project Credit

Project Name: Shanshui Firewood Garden
Project Address: Anshi Village, Lizhuang Town, Cuiping District, Yibin, Sichuan, China
Project Design: MIX Architecture
Completion Year: 2021.10
Building Area: 1100㎡
Photo: Arch-Exist / @archexist

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