Community project teaches fast and easy sustainable building techniques

A project in the Chinese countryside allows vacationing families to build sustainable cabins

Spotted: A new community project has been created in China as a way to give ordinary people hands-on experience with building sustainable architecture. Designed by Advanced Architecture Lab[AaL] and Wiki World, the Wiki Tribe retreat is made up of structures built entirely by visiting families from nearby Chinese cities and countryside.

The architect-designed, A-frame cabins are made of a modular wooden system and are placed over 20 acres of the Chinese countryside in Mogan River Valley, Deqing Huzhou. The cabins are based on open-sourced plans and constructed out of cross-laminated timber panels and timber framing, which together can build a sustainable structure without the need for concrete. It took 12 families just five hours to assemble the first triangular-shaped cabins.

The cabins are supported by steel anchors and feature a large triangular, glass window, reflective waterproof roof panelling, a natural timber interior and a small covered alcove. The goal of the Wiki Tribe retreat is to offer an opportunity for parents to bond with their children through architecture, while also reconnecting with the rural Chinese landscape.

The project was supported by a number of groups, including UN-habitat, Parki City, Wiki House, World Children Campaign and 7 Billion Urbanists. Parki City has even committed to providing sustainable energy for the project. Future plans include an opportunity for visiting families to design and build new structures on the site, using architecture as an educational and social platform. 

The Wiki Tribe project is part of a growing movement towards helping people to understand sustainable architecture. At Springwise, we have covered innovations in this area that include pre-fab homes that are easy to assemble and move, and tiny, affordable vacation homes.