Location: Xinzhuang Village, China.

Architect: TAO | Trace Architecture Office.

The Museum of Handcraft Paper is located in Xinzhuang village, Yunnan, China, and is part of a plan to preserve and develop traditional resources. The museum showcases the history, technique, and product of paper making and consists of exhibition space, a bookstore, work space, and guest rooms. The building is designed to be a micro-village, with a cluster of small buildings that are in harmony with the adjacent village and landscape. The design maximizes the use of local materials, construction methods, and traditional craftsmanship, while also employing modern materials and techniques. The building features a traditional Chinese wood structural system with nail-less tenon connections and uses local materials such as fir wood, bamboo, volcano stone, and handcraft paper for exterior finish, roof, floor, and interior finish, respectively. The form and detail of the building respond to views, natural light, and climate, with porous stone footing for ventilation, high windows for natural light, and handcraft paper on the bottom side of the glass roof for diffused light. The construction of the building was completed by a team of local farmer builders, who worked efficiently with the concept clarified through models in various scales. The museum functions as a preview window of the village, with each home in the village opening to visitors to show the papermaking process. The museum is a preservation and transformation of local building tradition and is an architectural attempt to combine modern quality with regional character by using local resources and suitable techniques in the rural context of contemporary China.

Photo credit: Shu He.