Blanketed by the dense forest of Dasijian Mountain on the fringe of Taizhou City, the Huangyan Quarries, which hold vast naturally occurring rock patternations, are unique to their context. Formed by deposits of sulphur, manganese, and iron, the spectacular golden pigments embedded within the voids of the quarry are found nowhere else in the world. The quarries themselves are the result of more than eleven centuries of sustained human interaction with the site. First excavated in the early Tang dynasty to supply building material for the surrounding Yongning County, the expansive network of monumental voids and tunnel systems was carved manually by generations of workers who expertly formed the subterranean interior. This collective effort is now legible in the marks of hand tools that texture the rockface throughout, and the structural geometry of each chamber reflects the accumulated labour, skill, and expertise now held remnant in the mountainside.
While distinct in its history and form, the Huangyan Quarries share site conditions found globally. Across the 50 per cent of habitable land on Earth that is now occupied by humans, there exist ancient geological histories, cultural connections to place, complex or remnant ecologies, and valuable enduring knowledge systems. These are the conditions that architects work within and increasingly respond to in ways that enhance existing infrastructure, drawing on sustainable local economies and contributing to regeneration and repair. The latest iteration of Huangyan Quarries, designed by architect Xu Tiantian and her Beijing-based studio DnA Design and Architecture, provides a robust point of reference for a method of architectural practice that is sensitive, site specific, networked, and enterprising. Xu’s architectural contribution across rural China in the last decade of her practice positions architecture as a facilitator, and the role of the architect as a powerful advocate.
Like many post-extractive landscapes, the Huangyan Quarries have existed in a number of iterations, from industrious worksite to an infrequently visited tourist destination, dormant heterotopia, and now, in their most recent iteration, as a civic and cultural space. Encompassing 20,000 square metres of undulating topography, where hundred-meter-high voids that pierce the mountain surface lead to compressed underground passageways and deep stone pits submerged by jade-green waterways, the quarries have a labyrinthine quality crystalized by the architectural drawings produced by Xu and her studio, and by the layer of architecture they have introduced. In plan, the organic geometry of the forty-six quarries is mediated by sinuous bridges, pathways, staircases, and platforms that suggest uses and identities that extend the logic of the existing mine. Visitors to the site are immersed in the atmosphere of the quarry’s uncanny interiors, caught between awe at the scale of the spaces and engagement with the new programming made possible by the architecture. Xu’s sprawling masterplan, and the many hundreds of plans and sections that were produced for the project, decipher the quarry’s geological form and express a nuanced architecture of iterative elements that uncover a spatial logic already present in the quarry system.
Read diagrammatically, the Huangyan Quarries is designed around three clusters of connected chambers. A long tunnel joining two of the clusters remains a principal axis, and another broader passage, between the major chambers, supports a linear gallery. The spatial strategy applied by DnA to the reactivated quarries clarifies circulation and scale that already existed but were obscured by time and disuse. Xu’s proposal for the site’s new programme follows the same logic, framing the quarries as a significant cultural site rather than reducing their value to industry or material extraction. The largest grouping of quarries, located just beyond the main arrival gate, operates as a civic living room for the region. In this space, walkways connect levelled and inserted platforms that function as a reading room, workshop space, lecture theatre, café, and gallery. The secondary cluster accommodates performance spaces and connects with the landscape beyond the quarries. And a third, smaller network of chambers is used for dining, retail, and the gallery’s administrative spaces. These uses arise from the inherent scale, atmosphere, and identified cultural value of the quarries. The existing form determines the mode of occupation, and together with the new architecture, they develop an armature for art, performance, and public gathering. Synthesizing these new functions within the shifting volumes, temperature, natural lighting, and acoustics of the quarries, the architecture facilitates an experience grounded as much in the qualities of the site as in the activity being shared.
A consistent material palette and structural approach are the only cues to what is new and what was previously existing. Stone balustrades, built from remnant stone from the quarries, have the solidity of city walls. Expressed timber and concrete structures form bridges, cantilevered walkways, and the sweeping stairs that lead visitors deeper into the mountainside. Experienced from multiple vantage points, the four timber arched bridges of varying spans and sizes, which help traverse the quarry’s waterways, follow the structural logic of the bianmu gongqiao, a woven timber bridge system of interlaced trusses specific to the Fujian and Zhejiang regions. Typically constructed from solid timber without the use of metal fixings, the Huangyan Quarries bridges are locally fabricated from cross-laminated timber sections. The integration of these recognizable vernacular structures, executed using contemporary techniques, demonstrates a nuanced architecture that continues local material and construction knowledge in the region. This approach reflects Xu’s wider practice, defined by interventions that refer to local precedents so as to harmoniously activate and enrich existing conditions.
Throughout the site, architectural details connect visitors with key characteristics of the quarries. At the entry to Quarry One, views of the large, pigmented stone markings are prioritized, with discreet lighting designed to heighten their colour and vibrancy. The platforms and stairways lead to three piers where small boats take visitors through the quarry by water. In Quarry Two, an amphitheatre is separated from a cantilevered stage by a moat-like expanse of water. At the shallow edge of another pool, a narrow walkway allows visitors to travel between bodies of water, with the water’s surface at eye level, as they move toward a large open-air amphitheatre protected by flanking stone cliffs. In Quarry Three, expressed timber beams extend beyond high-level glazing to connect the interior to the sky and surrounding forest. These architectural decisions generate an atmosphere of quiet reverence. Throughout history, subterranean spaces have served as sites for refuge, record, and ritual. Like other ancient monoliths, the awe inspired by Huangyan Quarries stems from the seemingly impossible knowledge that their making was achieved by hand, across generations, to achieve what would be challenging even with current technology and machinery. In this sense, the quarries are a record of collective labour, an accidental monument that embodies distributed authorship.
Despite being quarried using analogue processes, the recent works relied on advanced mapping and modelling. In collaboration with geotechnical engineers, DnA Design and Architecture used 3-D scanning technology to analyze every surface of the site, converting this data into both digital and physical models. What emerged from this research was the recognition that the spatial intelligence of the stone workers remained intact. The chambers were methodically formed volumes, and the circulation paths were legible though partially obscured. By dissecting the anatomy of the stone structures, the architects developed an understanding of each chamber’s condition and potential. The rigour of this research underpins the seamlessness of the new architecture within the human-made landscape. Where structural reparations were required to stabilize the quarry envelope, the architects ensured that concrete support structures were discreet and concentrated at transitional joints and entries. Importantly, the architectural repair administered in this project rearticulates the site rather than artificially returning it to its pre-extractive condition or rebuilding extensively with materials extracted elsewhere.
Working with an ambitious client, DnA has unlocked the site as a resource for modern Taizhou and the broader Zhejiang region, whose younger population engages readily with cultural and recreational experiences that connect to local identity. The inaugural exhibition and programming for the gallery and surrounding spaces included contemporary art by Chinese artists, photography, sculpture, multimedia, and video, alongside night-time performances and events. The Huangyan Quarries demonstrates that civic architecture and public institutions can enable public life through found spaces. They can be cultivated through the stewardship of inherited landscapes and infrastructure, supported by disciplined design and planning frameworks that prioritize continuity. In this model, culture is not imported into regional locations; it is generated from them.
The Huangyan Quarries demonstrates Xu’s philosophy and expanded practice of rural revitalization catalyzed by architecture. The project contributes to DnA’s ongoing work across Zhejiang, accompanied by projects including the Tofu Factory, Bamboo Theatre, Shimen Bridge, and Huiming Tea Space, which share a methodology of modest architecture that foregrounds productive social conditions and economic stimulus. Through these works, Xu and her studio have developed a network of cultural infrastructure that is distributed, incremental, and informed by local skills and material systems. The Huangyan Quarries builds on the thesis articulated by the studio in their Jinyun Quarry project, which similarly uses architecture to repair the large-scale degradation of landscape with subtle intervention, recognizing the intelligence of a place and its people in order to sustain it. These projects join a growing collective in contemporary architectural practice in which significant transformation is achieved through small, cumulative gestures. More specifically, the Huangyan Quarries articulates a model for post-extractive repair that positions continuity as an active form of cultural production. Having been embraced by the local community and circulated internationally, this project builds a case for progressive and resonant architecture as the outcome of regenerative ambition. In their current iteration, the Huangyan Quarries are a working demonstration of renewal, delivering a reactivated landscape where architecture recalibrates latent potential.
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