The Diaojiaolou (stilted wooden house) dwellings of Laozhuang

The Diaojiaolou dwellings of Laozhuang

Laozhuang is located in Lanhua Cave Village, Baoping Township, Yongshun County, and is an ancient and beautiful village. The simple and kind-hearted people of Laozhuang have built their homes layer upon layer along the undulating mountain terrain, integrating the image of the mountains into their architecture. Surrounded by rolling hills, lush green rice fields, and traditional-style Laozhuang houses are scattered across the slopes, arranged in overlapping tiers and thoughtfully distributed across the various elevations accessible on the mountain, creating an architectural image that is rustic yet fresh, exuding a unified yet diverse beauty.

The combination of the stilted houses and the mountain forms a distinct boundary for the settlement — so neat that one might suspect it was uniformly planned. The blue sky and green land are interwoven with homes that radiate human warmth. The overall layout of the buildings is compact and balanced, embodying a rustic character and spirit, and reflecting adaptive planning methods and ethical principles.

The Xiang Residence is a typical example. The building is constructed against the mountain, reducing the amount of earthwork required during construction and also minimizing damage to the mountain. Following the slope of the mountain, the floor levels of the building are elevated accordingly, with outdoor access provided by steps, resulting in a rational functional layout. The ground floor is used for drainage, as well as for animal pens and manure pits; the second floor contains the main hall, bedrooms, and kitchen, serving as spaces for receiving guests and daily living; the third floor is set apart from the bustle, reserved purely for living, supported by wooden structures that reflect an organic unity between structure and function, architecture and environment, as well as the vertical development of the buildings and the forms of surrounding trees.

The deep-eaved gray-tiled roofs and the upward-dynamic external forms give the building complex a light facade and a solid base, resembling an eagle perched on the mountain, ready to take flight. Stacked bluestone slabs are tucked into the mountain to form steps and foundations, while the primarily post-and-lintel wooden framework stands atop the platform. Wooden board walls are inserted between the wooden frames, appearing both sealed and open, solid yet airy when viewed from afar. The beams are simple and unadorned, and the railings and doors/windows mainly feature straight lattice designs, with the whole and its parts exuding a strong sense of antiquity. Within the concave-shaped plan, a small plaza is enclosed, where a trellis is erected with melon vines, adding vitality and liveliness to the profound beauty. Here, the buildings are not merely shelters for people but are artworks that highly integrate environmental characteristics with human ingenuity.