Development of Dafang ancient village in rural China.
In 2018 IVEM was invited by the People’s Government of JinXi County to help revitalize the historic countryside and re-develop one of the many villages into an example for other villages.
Results
The village was officially opened in early 2020 and attracted 140.000 visitors during the first year. In 2021 the project was mentioned as one of China’s top 5 rural redevelopment projects.
“A 1000 year old village emerged from its ruins and sprang back to life.
IVEM’s role
- Overall project management (in cooperation with local government)
- Selecting expertise and build project team
- Formulating overall marketing strategy
- Writing development plan
- Defining and designing the visual identity
- Organizing (long-term) programming
Project team
- The China Cultural Media Group (Chinese counterpart)
- Next Architects, Beijing
- SmartLand Landscape Architects, Amsterdam
- Total Design, Amsterdam
- Linda Vlassenrood Cultural & Educational programming, Amsterdam
- The Herman Lamers Art Group, NL
Phasing
- Development of physical space for (Phase 1 2018 – 2019).
- Create a cluster of attractive and flexible spaces where Chinese and Dutch creatives from different fields can work together,
- Create a landmark building that can be used as an icon in visual marketing,
- Marketing and programming (Phase 2 2019 – 2020)
- Develop a visual branding concept,
- Create overnight stay capacity in or near the village,
- Connect Dafang village to the nearby villages with a network of bicycle roads,
- Organize cultural and creative events focussing on activities where Dutch and Chinese creatives can exchange.
Very successful
More than 100 official delegations visited the village which served as an example of the revitalisation of the Chinese countryside.
The architecture of new buildings received the 2021 shortlist nomination in the international magazine Designboom, the identity design won a silver award in the Graphics international branding competition.
The project also received a lot of media attention: two documentaries on China’s national tv (CCTV) and many articles and interviews in local and national media.
Dafang Village 2018
Dafang Holland Creative Village spring 2020
