Fifty-six, three-storey attached homes with a footprint of 167 m² each were completed in the reconstruction of this traditional Qiang village: the first floor typically local stone for livestock, the second concrete for human habitation and the third wood for the storage of grain. In the design and construction process, light-gauge steel frames were erected by the architectural team, to be filled in by the villagers in barn-raising style. In this approach, a number of goals were pursued: to reduce costs and teach skills by including local labour, to allow inhabitants design decisions within the open-plan framework provided and to strike a balance between uniformity and variation in the streetscape.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture