Binzhou Yangxin Ten Thousand Mu Pear Garden Tourism Center
Location
Central region of Wan Mu Pear Garden, Jin Yang Street, Yangxin County, China
Size
3,530㎡
Developer
Pu Su Pear Garden (Shandong) Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd.
Architects
Shanghai Green-A Architects
China has undergone an unprecedented urbanization process, from being a predominantly rural society to seeing most of its people live in cities within just 30 years, moving from 20.6% urbanization in 1982 to 60.6% in 2020. During this transformation, countless skyscrapers and big-name developments were built across the country, and hundreds of millions of people upgraded to new homes. However, a hang-over effect of this is overpopulated megacities and challenges for rural villages and towns that bled working-age populations who left to pursue new opportunities.
To address this issue, the Chinese government has drafted new policies and ambitious plans to revitalize rural areas through tourism, agriculture and cultural programs. Many Chinese recognize that their roots lie in the countryside, and although they might not want to live there, they are interested in reconnecting with their heritage. China’s vision for prosperous rural communities is tied to a more sustainable way of developing the tourism industry, through an environmental lens using green building materials and prefabrication. In support of those efforts, we are demonstrating the benefits of building with wood through this project in the province of Shandong.
Functioning as a visitor centre, the project is situated in a large development zone called ‘Ten Thousand Mu Pear Garden’, a key component of the Binzhou city government’s tourism plan. The design of the building has many unique features, with inspiration for the roofline coming from the floral bloom of a pear, where the natural composition of a flower lends itself to the building structure. Supported by wood glue-laminated (glulam) columns, the spacious atrium provides an open and warm space for visitors.
The roof structure and prefabricated glulam posts accelerated the speed of construction enabling the building to be enclosed in about 8 weeks, with the entire project to be completed in less than four months.
The Canada Wood China team has collaborated with the local government and the developer to provide them with technical design support and onsite quality control. Pear Garden will be a landmark site that will set an example for other rural cities to follow. Wood construction is making great inroads in the booming tourism market, due to recent advances in local engineering and the manufacturing of glulam in China.
To learn more about our initiative in this sector, please click here to view the case study.
Funding for this project is provided through Natural Resources Canada
