NOTES
Glazed factory pavilions with shaded walkways facing the fields

Songyang, Zhejiang, China

Brown Sugar Factory

Brown sugar production occupies Xing Village’s new factory for only three months each year, from October to December. Outside the production season, villagers use the building for tea and gatherings, with films and puppet performances in the evenings. DnA_Design and Architecture completed the factory in 2016 at the edge of the village in Songyang, Zhejiang, replacing private workshops that no longer met technical requirements.

The working areas are divided between an enclosed northern side beside the sugarcane fields and a more open southern side facing the village. Tall steel-framed volumes accommodate storage, processing and a leisure area. Six stoves with thirty-six pots occupy the production hall. A corridor loops around the principal spaces, allowing visitors to watch the work without passing through it.

Light steel framing provides the clear spans and incorporates the chimneys and exhaust equipment needed for cooking over open fires. Red brick encloses the service areas, with gaps in some walls admitting views through the masonry. Around the glazed halls, bamboo slats shade the corridor. Brick paving continues inside beside pockets of greenery, while concrete marks the circulation route.

White line illustrations cover parts of the glass, showing local cultivation and the stages of sugar making. Art-school students drew these scenes by hand. From the visitor corridor, the illustrations overlap with the working stoves beyond the glass and the fields visible through the opposite side of the building.

Project Information

Firm
DnA_Design and Architecture
Area
1,230 m²
Completed
2016
Type
Cultural, Industrial
Material
Bamboo, Concrete, Glass, Steel, Terracotta brick
Aerial view of Xing Village and the agricultural fields around the factory
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Brown Sugar Factory between village houses and cultivated fields
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Brick service walls and steel factory roofs beside the fields
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Bamboo slats above a steel-framed walkway beside the glazed rooms
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Concrete walkway beneath bamboo slats along the factory glazing
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Corner of the glazed factory with a bamboo-shaded walkway
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Steel columns and bamboo screens beside trees in the courtyard
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Perforated brick walls around the factory service courtyard
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Open leisure hall with grass beneath a tall steel roof
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Brick paving and trees inside the glazed leisure hall
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Trees and brick paving beneath exposed steel roof trusses
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Sunlight across brick paving beside trees in the leisure hall
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Grass and brick paths inside a tall glazed pavilion
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Rows of sugar-making stoves beneath the exposed steel roof
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Workers tending sugar-making stoves beneath rooflights
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Worker beside cooking pots and cooling trays in the production hall
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Sunlight and steam above the sugar-making pots
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Steam rising from stoves across the dark production hall
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Steam and sunlight above the working sugar factory
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Worker tending a steaming pot beneath a rooflight
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Sugar production beneath steel trusses and rooflights
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Visitors observing sugar production through glass with white line artwork
Credit: Wang Ziling, Han Dan
Site and ground floor plan drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Section 1 drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Section 2 drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Site context section drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
East elevation drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
West elevation drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Exploded circulation and functional layout drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Leisure and visitor area diagram drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Service and storage area diagram drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture
Sugar production area diagram drawing
Credit: DnA_Design and Architecture

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