Abstract:

Mawei Embroidery Museum is an architectural project that expands care from a single building to the scale of the village. Located in Shuipu Village, Guizhou, it responds to the decline of Shui ethnic Mawei Embroidery, as many embroiderers—mainly women—have left to seek work elsewhere, weakening community ties and intergenerational transmission.

Rather than creating an isolated object, the project redefines architecture as a new village spine shaped by the site’s rising topography. The building opens toward the lower village path and steps upward along the slope, transforming a former residence into a porous public interface. Workshops, community spaces, a public restroom, and circulation unfold along this route, allowing production, learning, and daily life to merge into a continuous spatial experience.

Sustainability is achieved through spatial adaptation rather than technological imposition. Dormer windows provide stable, diffuse daylight for embroidery work, while reorganized partitions and semi-open transitional spaces enable cross-ventilation, improving comfort and reducing mechanical reliance. Local timber and stone are reused, preserving material memory.

Through openness, environmental responsiveness, and community participation, the project shifts from preservation to coexistence, supporting shared livelihoods, ecological balance, and cultural continuity within a living rural landscape.