The second phase of the Xihama Village Farm House Renovation Project

The Xibang Village Rural House Renovation Phase II is located in Xibang Village, Bacheng Town, Kunshan, immediately east of the Kunqu Opera School completed in 2016. It represents another significant exploration in using micro-intervention to restore rural culture and nostalgia. The original house belonged to a villager and also served as the temporary command post during the construction of the Kunqu Opera School. In 2017, when the owner moved to the city, some proposed demolishing the old house. The design team strongly opposed this, and after lengthy deliberation with local officials, a consensus was reached: preserve the old house, renovate it, and hand it over to the design team as a rural work station. The guiding principle was: do not demolish the main house; preserve the rural fabric. Economically this was not rational, as the structure was in poor condition with badly damaged cavity walls, and reinforcement costs could reach two to three times new construction. Yet preserving nostalgia and exploring reinforcement methods suited to Jiangnan water villages justified the effort. The foundation was re-poured with concrete. Cavity walls were carefully chiseled and injected with reinforcement mortar. Angle steel was used to reinforce cracked floor slabs and roof sections. The original layout was preserved. During roof repairs, the exposed wooden truss and straw matting were discovered and carefully preserved. For the previously low-quality ancillary structures, a new planning approach was adopted: the courtyard was covered with a folded roof using three bends to break down the mass. New steel structure and metal roofing honestly express the intervention. The interior is entirely newly inserted: the upstairs corridor becomes a workbench, above the new kitchen sits a small salon-theater. The boundary between old and new remains clearly visible, testifying to organic growth between the two structures. The design follows three principles: go slow, keep it small, and execute with meticulous care, treating rural heritage as a priceless treasure requiring patient, thoughtful intervention rather than hasty demolition.