fenghuo: from bloom to harvest
Master of Architecture Thesis
UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Award: John Gaitanakis Prize in Architecture
This thesis explores the cultural and social relationships between fire and architecture to in(form) emotionally shared communities and multisensory experiences. It examines and even re-evaluates fire as a (re)generative force to create new forms of ceremonies, rituals, remembrances and celebrations.
Fire used to be the medium of daily rituals and occasional ceremonies in the village of Tian Long, in China. However, the rapid modernization of the country and the future urban planning of the village have pushed out these traditions. This village is a proxy for the general shift of values in our globalized and individualized world. In this project, rituals of producing and harvesting persimmons are introduced to provide an opportunity to reintroduce a number of fire events into the village, exploring the design of a series of spaces and vessels where the beauty and power of the medium can be manifest to celebrate the persimmon lifecycle and reignite local culture.
The project aims to extend the role of the architect beyond the boundaries of space and form into events and ecologies, both natural and societal.
drawing of the Tianlong village
drying persimmon
persimmon wine making
persimmon leaf tea making
The project features two annual ceremonies celebrating the persimmon life cycle in the village. The Blooming Ceremony in June honors persimmon blooming and tea frying, while the Harvesting Ceremony in November marks persimmon harvesting and wine steaming. The ceremonial site sits at the village entry, where road, water, dam, and houses converge, and fire is given agency in design through voids of burnt paper. Smoking pods, chimneys, ash nurseries, and drying pavilions are integrated into the site, celebrating fire’s expression and aftermath.
Tianlong Village - Blooming Ceremony
Blooming Ceremony - persimmon leaf picking
Blooming Ceremony - persimmon leaf drying
Blooming Ceremony - persimmon leaf frying
Blooming Ceremony - ash collecting
Blooming Ceremony - baby persimmon tree growing from ashes
Blooming Ceremony - lantern festival
Harvesting Ceremony
Harvesting Ceremony - baby persimmon trees growing in ashes
Harvesting Ceremony - pods for making persimmon wine
Harvesting Ceremony - persimmon wine making and tasting
Harvesting Ceremony - approaching to persimmon orchard
Harvesting Ceremony - harvesting and drying persimmons in the orchard
Harvesting Ceremony - celebreating harvesting