Gangnam Banshe B&B

About an hour and a half from Shanghai and Suzhou lies Jijiadun Village, once a typical Jiangnan water town but depopulating as its hollowing worsened. The township invited a professional team to redevelop it; drawing on rural scenery and cultural creative industries, new urban villagers arrived, forming a new ideal rural community. Jiangnan Banshe Homestay sits at the village entrance, surrounded on three sides by a small river with farmland nearby. At the outset, the design explored new relationships between countryside and city. New villagers bring industries and lifestyles that strengthen urban-rural ties, setting the tone for Banshe: half city, half countryside. The owner is a local who grew up here; during discussions he asked for a private corner to which he could one day return, half retreat and half home. The design balances urban comfort with rural rootedness, half enclosed by water and half open to fields, producing a quiet, modern dwelling that bridges city and countryside.