A Narrative Water Courtyard Linking Traditional and Modern

Kuaiji Mountain Huangjiu Research and Development Center (KMHRDC) is located in the town of Hutang, on the outskirts of Shaoxing. Hutang is part of the first group of “innovative revival towns” under the Zhejiang Historical Towns Plan, a scheme put forward by the provincial government to promote economic and cultural development in rural areas.

As the face of the town, KMHRDC is close to the Kuaiji Mountain Huangjiu Production Zone (note: huangjiu is a type of Chinese rice wine), which contains three functional districts: Huangjiu Research Institute, Museum of Huangjiu, and Business Offices.

On the urban scale, the design first arranged the site from disorganization to standardization, representing its evolution from traditional to modern.

Water is the symbol of Shaoxing, the water courtyard is the symbol of Shaoxing homes, and Jianhu Lake is the symbol of Shaoxing huangjiu. This project took water as its main design concept.

As a result, on the architecture scale, two key elements were used, namely the water courtyard and the 'taimen', a Shaoxing traditional residential gate. The water courtyard creates a distinctive garden landscape with diverse functionality, while the 'taimen' arranges the division of spatial sequences, and echoes huangjiu’s origins as a folk drink in the Kuaiji Mountain area.

In addition, the placement of structures like corridors, pavilions, and walls breaks up the 40,000-square-meter site into an appropriate scale for a courtyard. The circulation was organized through the concepts of traditional Chinese gardens such as landscape movement and perspective shift.

Through walking movement and perspective transformation, the space is more effectively connected. Ultimately, inherit the Shaoxing culture and realize the integration of the old and the new.