sou fujimoto’s mirrored gardens form micro-village in rural china

a place where contemporary art practice meets agriculture, ‘mirrored gardens’ – run by vitamin creative space – is located in the rural outskirts of guangzhou, china and makes a nod to the culture and characteristics of the traditional villages nearby. the sou fujimoto– designed scheme is nestled within a forest environment where several small buildings collectively form their own micro-village. the notion of the project is for two different activities: art and agriculture, to ultimately encourage and influence each other by fueling new ideas, energy and methods. the uniform volumes sit side by side, distinguished by subtle contrasts in texture, color of materials and varied heights. composed of locally sourced materials like old roof tiles and qing grey bricks, the structures will house art exhibitions whereas externally, the gardens will be a nurture ground for germination. there is a decked pathway which interweaves through the trees and connects each of the spaces.

all images from vitamin creative space

the concepts that drove this project was the methods sou fujimoto would use to incorporate art and agriculture, the landscape and architecture and lastly, how the scheme would merge naturally into its rural context. the co-founder of mirrored gardens, art critic and writer hu fang writes: ‘can art, through the persistent quotidian practice of it, hold the possibility of becoming a kind of collaborated labor with our other essential aspects of life? can it become a system that can always regenerate values, something similar to sustainable agriculture? here, art will be experimented in reality through the abstract effects of time… it will learn from all the wisdom of humankind, and become itself an inspiring and contagious practice of living wisdom. from there, materials, skills, humanness and occasionality interweave, representing a view of a vivacious world.’

the buildings sit, merged amongst the surrounding nature
the raised pathway connecting the spaces.

gardens that promote the activity of farming and germination
each building is differentiated by its texture and height

exhibition space

modern and subtle take on a micro-village

mirrored gardens lit up at dusk 

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