Anren Culture Center for Sect of Great Craftsman by Atelier Li Xinggang

Located at the heart of Anren Ancient Town in Chengdu, the Anren Culture Center for Sect of Great Craftsman by Atelier Li Xinggang engages in a nuanced architectural dialogue with a uniquely layered and complex urban fabric. Anren’s townscape is marked by an extraordinary juxtaposition of architectural styles, periods, and scales—from traditional vernacular mansions to East-meets-West eclectic structures and newer modern buildings introduced during rapid urbanization. This contrast has produced a fragmented yet vibrant environment, demanding a sensitive architectural intervention capable of weaving these elements into a cohesive and culturally resonant whole.

Urban Context and Cultural Significance

Situated within the core zone of the ancient town, the site functions as a pivotal node connecting key urban arteries and landmarks. It links the bustling Shuren Ancient Street to the north, the culturally rich Liushi Manorial and Jianchuan Museum to the east, and the contemporary Sheraton Hotel to the south. This location is therefore both a crossroads of historic memory and contemporary urban life, making it a focal point for public activity and cultural exchange.

The challenge for Atelier Li Xinggang was to craft an architectural identity that could simultaneously honor Anren’s rich heritage and respond to its modern transformations. The town’s sharp division in scale, orientation, and architectural language—especially the contrast between traditional brick-and-timber structures and contemporary modernist forms—necessitated an approach that could repair the urban fabric without erasing its diverse layers.

Design Concept: Courtyards and Pitched Roof Clusters

At the heart of the design is a reinterpretation of the local mansion typology, particularly the historic Anren mansions characterized by pitched roofs clustered around courtyards. The architecture unfolds as a series of courtyards of varying sizes, articulated by an array of freely arranged pitched roofs that rise progressively from west to east, starting from the ancestral house of Chen Yuesheng. This configuration creates a rich spatial tapestry—a modern, fragmented yet harmonious composition that resonates with the traditional urban morphology of Anren.

The courtyards serve as both functional and symbolic spaces: they provide light, ventilation, and social gathering points, while echoing the spatial rhythms of the ancient town. This fragmented cluster strategy repairs the disrupted urban texture, reconnecting the surrounding urban context with a human-scaled and culturally anchored built form.

Architectural Language and Structural Innovation

A striking feature of the design is the extensive use of concrete arches, inspired by the distinctive archways commonly found in Anren’s eclectic mansions. These arches, derived from a modular 6×6 meter grid, vary in scale and form to respond flexibly to interior spatial needs and exterior landscape framing. They act as a unifying structural and aesthetic framework, shaping both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Above these arches, a timber roof frame is placed, recalling the brick-and-timber hybrid construction typical of Anren’s historic buildings. This timber structure is complemented by steel pipes and tension rods between arches, ensuring the overall planar stability of the roof clusters. The resulting architectural language balances tradition and innovation, echoing Anren’s mansion style while adapting it for contemporary construction and use.

The Roof Walkway: Connecting Architecture, Town, and Landscape

An exceptional experiential element is the walkway integrated into the pitched roofs, designed for both maintenance and public access. Visitors can traverse along the ridges and gutters of the roofs, evoking the sensation of walking through mountain peaks. This promenade creates a visual and physical dialogue between the architecture, the ancient town below, and the distant Xiling Snow Mountain on the horizon.

This intentional connection between building, town, and natural landscape situates the culture center not only as an architectural artifact but as a point of cultural and environmental engagement. The roof walkway acts as a symbolic and literal bridge, merging human craft, historical context, and nature’s grandeur into a unified experience.

Materiality and Craft

The material palette and structural choices further embed the design within Anren’s cultural heritage. The use of concrete and timber references local building traditions, while the careful modulation of scale and form in the arches and roof clusters evokes the craftsmanship that the center itself celebrates. The tactile quality of exposed concrete and warm timber surfaces anchors the building in both history and contemporary architectural practice.

Repairing the Urban Fabric through Contemporary Design

The project successfully repairs and revitalizes a fragmented urban core by harmonizing contrasting architectural languages and scales. The result is a vibrant culture center that fosters an environment for craft, community, and cultural continuity, without resorting to mimicry or nostalgia. Instead, Atelier Li Xinggang’s design pursues a contemporary interpretation of tradition, allowing the townscape’s contradictions to coexist within a carefully composed architectural whole.

Photography: Schran Image & Yimin Chen