Location: Beijing, China.

Architect: llLab.

Beigou Village, located on the outskirts of Beijing, has undergone a transformation in recent years, becoming a model for rural development in China. The village’s remote location and barren soil had kept it mostly undiscovered by the outside world until the secretary of the new village committee took office in 2005 and saw great potential. Two “Environmental Revolutions” were launched in 2007 and 2015 to turn the village into a garden-like new countryside. The first step was to change the way villagers felt about the village, creating a sense of place rooted in cultural life and its unique identity. The success of these initial steps began to attract outside attention, and in 2008, an abandoned glazed tile factory was transformed into a hotel by an American couple, who had a vision of community development and cooperation. The 2049 Group came to Beigou Village in 2009 and began to support and transform the village bit by bit, integrating the villagers’ houses, customs, and traditional trades into their development projects. In 2021, the Glazed-Tile Art.Architecture Museum (WAAAM) was built to commemorate the pioneering attitude of Beigou, a daring community that challenged itself with reinventing the concept of the rural village through environmental development, art installations, and architectural interventions. The museum takes a critical approach to local materials, positioning them in a new light and expressing their features in a more artistic and contemporary sensibility. The building is structured around three thematic interior spaces, titled “Beigou Memory,” “Beigou Now,” and “Beigou Future.” Beigou Village is now a model for rural China through its pioneering approach to rural development, combining environmental, cultural, and architectural development as drivers for urban revitalization and social transformation.