documenta fifteen

Cover Story

“One University One Village” at documenta fifteen

Kassel documenta, one of the most influential and significant art and cultural exhibitions in the world, has been held every five years in Kassel, Hesse, central Germany, since its founding in 1955. Alongside the Venice Biennale and the São Paulo Bienal, it stands as one of the world’s three major art exhibitions. documenta fifteen was curated by the Jakarta-based art collective ruangrupa, which extended a broad worldwide invitation to community-based collectives, organisations, and institutions to participate in shaping new models of sustainable development and shared collective art practice.

Following their participation in the 13th Shanghai Biennale in 2021, the “One University One Village” team was again invited to join artists Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun in their “Water School” project at documenta fifteen. The team also contributed a keynote talk to the “Water School” workshop series.

Rammed earth is a construction form that was once widespread across China and many other parts of the world. It has successfully addressed the challenge of balancing sustainable human activity with ecological diversity in environmentally complex regions. The “One University One Village” team was invited to share the new rammed-earth techniques developed through their post-disaster reconstruction practice — their knowledge of improving and innovating traditional earth building, and of raising both the seismic performance and the architectural expression of rammed-earth construction. They also spoke about how these techniques respond, with quiet intelligence, to the interconnected forces of global climate change, industrial and technological development, disaster, and political economy.

The “Water School” exhibition also featured the team’s particle-size distribution analysis of soil samples taken from the Wenchuan Dazhaizi earthquake site, along with earth building technical documents and documentary footage of the Earth Building Workshop. These materials responded to the artists' reflection: “Any place, any micro-detail within the work of the water system can become a site for exploring and practicing deeper environmental questions — a potential school capable of forging alliances across the Earth’s ecologies.”

(Images courtesy of the artists. Photographs: Cao Minghao, Yao Huizi)

Our Projects

01 Gaoliangdi Village, Xiyang Township, Jinning District, Kunming, Yunnan

Project type: Whole-village earth farmhouse relocation

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology

Project timeline: October 2018 – January 2023

Although earlier construction work was delayed by land-use planning changes, the project resumed in mid-2022 after active coordination by the local government and further optimisation of the housing layouts with the design team.

The village planning and architectural scheme were led by Professor Zhai Hui’s team at Kunming University of Science and Technology. Based on current material prices, budget constraints, and villager feedback, the design was adjusted to two-storey dwellings. After repeated consultation with the villagers, three house types were finalised.

Site levelling was completed in 2021. By early 2022 the construction team had finished foundations for about 20 households. In June, work began on two demonstration houses, expected to be completed by late September. Construction of over 40 new rammed-earth farmhouses across the village will follow, with the main works scheduled for completion by January 2023.

02 Dahei New Village, Xiyang Township, Jinning District, Kunming, Yunnan

Project type: Earth rural public service building

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology

Project timeline: June 2019 – August 2021

The Dahei New Village project was the team’s first pilot project using pure seismic earth construction for a public hall. The new hall was rebuilt on the site of the old one. The building comprises three parts: an outdoor buffer space, a main hall, and a kitchen at the rear. The circulation and layout were rationally optimised based on villagers' usage habits and the original hall’s arrangement.

The walls use locally sourced earth, built with pure rammed-earth construction without any chemical stabilisers. To improve seismic performance, the original soil was tested for particle-size distribution in the lab and mixed with an optimised proportion of sand and gravel — no cement, curing agents, or other chemical stabilisers were added. At the end of the building’s life, the wall material can be easily recycled or returned to nature. Because the local soil had low clay content, the team adopted steel I-beam columns as the primary structural load-bearing elements. Together with the reinforced-concrete foundations, ground ring beam, and top ring beam, the steel-and-concrete structural frame ensures the building’s seismic safety. The roof truss uses a bamboo-steel composite structure to meet the project’s needs for span, daylight, durability, and aesthetics. Both earth and bamboo have low embodied energy and carbon emissions; combined with passive design features — natural daylight and ventilation, thermal-mass walls — the building’s life-cycle environmental load is kept to a minimum.

The project was completed by the end of August, built primarily by the women’s construction team led by “One University One Village” artisan Dong Yixiang. Shortly after completion, a villager held a wedding there; the new hall was widely praised by the community.

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03 Xinshan Village, Xiyang Township, Jinning District, Kunming, Yunnan

Project type: Earth farmhouse dilapidated-building renovation

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology

Project timeline: August 2020 – December 2021

Work on the Xinshan Village project began with an initial survey in August 2020. It took nearly half a year to finalise the design, confirm a general-contracting partnership model, and sign the relevant cooperation agreements. This project not only continued the Dabaoyi project model but also tested a new construction-organisation approach, exploring whether the new seismic rammed-earth building technology could be made commercially viable. Construction formally began in April 2021; the main structure took 178 days. Interior finishing and landscaping proceeded during the rainy season. Owing to slight delays from the pandemic and weather, final acceptance of the entire project was not completed until 11 December 2021.

04 Badi Village, Jinjiang Town, Shangri-La, Diqing Prefecture, Yunnan

Project type: Earth farmhouse dilapidated-building renovation

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology

Project timeline: December 2020 – September 2022

After the team visited Badi Village in November 2020 and introduced the new seismic rammed-earth building system to the villagers, 17 households decided to join the reconstruction programme and receive artisan training to build new farmhouses using rammed-earth techniques.

The project was primarily driven by the villagers' own design decisions, using a traditional combined timber-and-earth construction approach that maximises existing materials and fits local living habits. The team supplied construction tools, technical support, and learning incentives, while training the villagers to carry out the entire construction process themselves. As of now, 14 houses are complete and 3 are being finished.

05 Baipo Yi Township, Miyi County, Panzhihua, Sichuan

Project type: Earth farmhouse dilapidated-building renovation

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology

Project timeline: May 2022 – January 2023

Since 2019, the team has built 16 earth farmhouses across two phases in Baipo Township, serving the housing needs of local ethnic-minority residents. In May 2022, the team began a third phase to build new rammed-earth farmhouses for 8 more households, with the main structures expected to be complete by January 2023.

06 Malong Township and Panlian Town, Miyi County, Panzhihua, Sichuan

Project type: Earth farmhouse dilapidated-building renovation

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology

Project timeline: November 2021 – July 2022

In late October 2021, the Miyi County Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau invited the team to survey three project sites within the county where villagers were interested in building. The team then organised a visit for Panlian Town residents to Hetaoping Village, followed by household surveys in which they introduced the new seismic earth-building technology and general cooperation model, and discussed each household’s plans and preferences. The team then initiated demonstration seismic rammed-earth farmhouse construction in Malong Township and Panlian Town.

In early December 2021, the team began reconstruction for 9 selected households (3 in Malong Township, 6 in Panlian Town). The projects have now been completed and passed construction acceptance.

07 Wama Township, Baoshan, Yunnan

Project type: Earth farmhouse dilapidated-building renovation

Project team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Kunming University of Science and Technology; No.10 Architects

Project timeline: December 2021 – November 2022

Wama Township is a relatively poor township under Baoshan’s jurisdiction, populated mainly by Yi and Miao ethnic groups. The project site is a Miao mountain village with long transport distances. The first batch of households registering to build comprised 8 Miao families.

Currently, 4 houses are complete and awaiting acceptance. The remaining registered households later withdrew for personal reasons. The team subsequently negotiated with local government departments to instead build clustered resettlement housing for particularly disadvantaged households, accommodating at least 4 families. Recently, the first-storey rammed-earth walls of the clustered housing have been completed; the whole project is expected to be finished by mid-October 2022.

Earth Building Workshop (Yunnan Rural Revitalization Research and Development Center)

Over the past year, the team has carried out regular volunteer activities, artisan training, earth-building research, and laboratory experiments at the Earth Building Workshop. Planned international exchanges and salons were still on hold due to the pandemic, but the Center has actively participated in a range of social and university events.

From April to July 2022, over a hundred items from the Earth Building Workshop were exhibited in “In the Wild: A Research Exhibition of Yunnan’s Architectural Traditions” at the Kunming Contemporary Art Museum. In addition, the 2022 Kunming University of Science and Technology undergraduate architecture final-design reviews and graduation exhibition, the 2022 master’s outstanding graduation works exhibition, and the Faculty of Architecture and City Planning’s Earth Building Music Festival were all held at the Center.

Next Steps

Earth building projects: The team will continue carrying out earth farmhouse construction projects in Kunming, Shangri-La, and Xuanwei in Yunnan, and Miyi in Sichuan. At the same time, new project sites are under survey and selection in locations including Zoige in Sichuan and Ningde in Fujian, among others.

One University One Village workstations: The team plans to set up workstations in Sichuan, Fujian, and other locations. Anchored by these workstations and the local villagers and community leaders, the team aims to build a long-term network with organisations and institutions deeply engaged in each region, radiating outward to surrounding areas and better advancing rural revitalisation and sustainable development work.

Outreach

Public talks: Dr. Wan Li and Dr. Chi Xinan delivered keynote talks at academic events including: REEDCOB 4th International Summer School; “Emergence: The Local Practice of Four Types of Architects” (organised by Urban Environment Design UED); Zhejiang University Sino-Canadian Culture and Arts Foundation Urban Studio Online Lecture Series; the 5th Architectural Anthropology Academic Symposium; “Living Together — Social Design and Art Action” Sino-Japanese Forum; and the “Beautiful China · Future Community Forum” (organised by the China Academy of Art’s Beautiful China Research Institute). The team also gave media interviews to Urban Environment Design UED, Kongbai Art Review, and Jiesu, among others, sharing the team’s project results, research methods, and guiding philosophy.

Awards: The Earth Building Workshop project received the following international and local awards:

Exhibitions: The team accepted the invitation of Chinese artists Cao Minghao and Chen Jianjun to contribute to a key exhibit and workshop at documenta fifteen. Over the past year, the team also took part in the following exhibitions: “Living Together — Social Design and Art Action Documentary Exhibition” (Chongqing, April 2022); “In the Wild: A Research Exhibition of Yunnan’s Architectural Traditions” (Kunming, April–June 2022); and the HKIA Annual Awards Exhibition (Hong Kong, May 2022).