sweeping timber roof crowns a workshop reviving rural craft traditions in china

Carpenter's Home in Haotang Village, Henan, is a 405-square-meter timber workshop and community learning space created to revive local craft traditions. The project replaces an aging woodworking shed and is placed at the entrance of the rural settlement to reactivate woodworking as a living profession and shared cultural practice. The sweeping roof extends the surrounding mountain terrain, with twelve curved glued-laminated timber beams descending across the slope to mediate elevation differences between the village road and a neighboring health clinic. Curved skylights bring daylight into the workshop, supporting daytime operation with evenly filtered light. Traditional woodworking, school workshops, tea gatherings, and everyday routines occur together beneath the timber roof.

"In Haotang Village in China's Henan province, Primary Architects completes Carpenter's Home, a timber workshop and community learning space rooted in the revival of local craft traditions. Conceived as part of the village's 'Eight Traditional Crafts Revival Program,' the 405-square-meter project reactivates woodworking as a living profession and a shared cultural practice. The building is positioned at the entrance of the rural settlement, replacing an aging woodworking shed once used by local carpenter Zhang. The architects imagine the project as an active place of labor and exchange."

"The team at Primary Architects approaches the roof as an extension of the mountain, allowing the architecture to emerge from the topography. Twelve curved glued-laminated timber beams descend gradually from east to west, generating a continuous spatial rhythm that follows the slope of the site, mediating the elevation difference between the village road and the neighboring health clinic. The undulating roofline echoes the surrounding hills and establishes what the architects describe as a dialogue of 'disconnected form yet connected spirit' with the distant mountains."

"Curved skylights cut through the timber shell like narrow slits of light within a valley, letting daylight inside. Optimized through sunlight simulations, the skylights allow the workshop to operate primarily through natural lighting during daytime hours. Filtered light spreads evenly across the surfaces, creating a warm atmosphere suited to focused craftsmanship. Glued timber members with st... digitally fabricated timber spans define the workshop interior."

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine