Date 7.12.2022
Location Hunan, China
Pingtan Book House, designed and built by Prof. Peter W. Ferretto and his team at Condition_Lab, has received the “World Interior of the Year” Award and the “Best Use of Natural Light” Prize at this year’s World Architecture Festival (WAF).
Opened in late 2021, the Book House is located in the Dong Minority village of Pingtan, Hunan Province. Rather than a building with floors and rooms, it consists of two interwoven spiral staircases, a double helix that becomes both the vertical circulation and the seating for the children. As a building typology, the Book House follows the traditional Dong House, with a tiled pitch roof, mortise and tenon timber construction system of interlocking columns and beams.
“Through a process of participation, we gained the trust of the villagers and the school principal, enabling us to find donors who would eventually sponsor the project. The building was built with a single donation from Chan Cheung Mun Chung Charitable Fund of 600,000 HKD, which covered the cost of the entire construction. This shows that social impact does not require large amounts of financial investment, and good design is not limited to high-end projects. Architecture must have a purpose,” said Prof. Ferretto.
The 2022 World Architecture Festival was hosted in Lisbon, Portugal. It received 772 entries from over 50 countries around the world. Pingtan Book House was awarded “World Interior of the Year”, one of the highest accolades of the World Architecture Festival; as well as the “Best Use of Natural Light Prize”, one of the fourteen special prizes for the shortlisted projects. The Book House has previously won the Grand Award of the DFA Design for Asia Awards 2022 as well as “Highly Commended” Award of the Dezeen Awards 2022 in the Cultural Building category.
Condition_Lab
Condition_Lab is a design-research laboratory led by Professor Ferretto at CUHK’s School of Architecture, together with a group of young graduates who believe that design has the power to improve people’s lives. The Lab’s research revolves around designing socially responsible architectural prototypes. By working hand-in-hand with local partners on real sites, the Lab aims to develop projects that foster a better sense of community.
