Nanshan Hall Renovation：Revealing and Remodeling the Void

Originally built in the 1990s as a traditional courtyard house near the Qinling Mountains, the Nanshan Hall underwent several functional changes, most recently serving as a rural restaurant. Its layout comprised a central five-bay main building, two auxiliary rooms, and an outdoor courtyard. Employing typical Guanzhong timber-and-brick construction, it is now being transformed into a versatile space for both leisure and business gatherings.

The concept of the "void" in this project originates from the 5th-century BCE Chinese philosopher Laozi, who regarded "non-being" as possessing equal importance to "being." This philosophical principle finds a resonant echo in the Gestalt psychological concept of figure-ground reversal, wherein the void (ground) is granted significance and meaning equivalent to that of the solid (figure).

Under the concept of “void”, shaping the “internal void” is the focus of this renovation. The design achieves this by opening five bays: compressing the entrance in the second bay to form a foyer and guide the diagonal sightline; connecting the two central bays to create a formal living room as the core of the void; and arranging rooms in the two end bays to further compress the space, shaping two diagonal interior voids starting from the entrance. Structurally, the retained one-meter wall piers are transformed into service spaces, which also participate in shaping the overall internal void. Together, these operations create a continuous interior void and a dynamic diagonal visual corridor.

The roof treatment exemplifies "Concealment and Revelation," as the original timber framework is selectively exposed above the living area, creating an internal "landscape" that dialogues with the new volume below. Repurposed wall piers form transitional "Engawa" spaces, their double-layered interfaces filtering light to cultivate a tranquil "play of shadows".

Ultimately, the architecture maintains a vernacular exterior while concealing a diagonal void within, achieving a restrained beauty of "external plainness and internal refinement." This renovation demonstrates that rural renewal is not creation from nothing, but a re-management of existing spatial relationships. By treating space itself as the primary material, it translates traditional wisdom through economical means, offering a new paradigm for vernacular transformation.