Discover rural aesthetics with young architects

A bright splash of blue highlights the windows and doors of a refurbished grain station, now the home to Mume Design Studio, creating a bold contrast with the neighboring historic structures. This is also a strong symbol of the rural revitalization efforts taking place in Tangkou Town, situated within the UNESCO World Heritage Kaiping Diaolou and Villages regions in Jiangmen.

The name "Mume", meaning "unknown", honors the unrecognized craftsmen throughout history. The studio is led by a PhD graduate who returned to China after studying in Japan, and its team has been long deeply engaged in rural work. Their involvement stems from the local initiatives aimed at attracting talented young individuals and bringing fresh energy to this ancient land.

The blue doors and windows of Mume Design

Addressing the "hollowing-out" dilemma

Jiangmen is one of the key ancestral homes of overseas Chinese. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Tangkou Xu, once a periodic country market, experienced a construction boom of infrastructure such as banks, hospitals, and post offices, fueled by substantial remittances from overseas Chinese. However, this once-vibrant communityhad faded to near abandonment by 2010as urbanization accelerated, with only nine households remaining in its hollowed-out core.

Change began quietly. In 2015, a community revitalization plan adopted an innovative model, that is, "Ownership Stays, Government Manages". Rather than demolishing old structures, young teams were invited to adapt abandoned granaries and watchtowers, awakening the community through careful reuse. The approach drew inspiration from nearby Cangdong Village, where Professor Tan Jinhua's team from Wuyi University has begun revitalizing rural community and cultural consciousness through ancestral hall lectures and folk practices.

In 2020, Mume Design, a team that was working in Guizhou's villages, was invited by the Tangkou town government. Through field inspections, they spotted the unique charm of Tangkou Xu.

"The community boasts pure rural landscapes minutes from urban centers with rice fields stretching beyond old granaries. Yet, the well-developed facilities and convenient transportation make it an ideal location for a studio," said Ma Yu, Creative Director of Architecture at Mume Design.

Ma Yu shares his story with Tangkou.

Sharing a similar vision, Chen Guodong, Founder of the Studio, partnered with Tangkou to establish their studio in the community. The chosen location was an almost dilapidated grain station, where the roof of the central warehouse has almostcollapsed. During renovation, the team preserved the original brick-and-wood framework while integrating modern functions. The area where the roof had collapsed was transformed into a semi - underground exhibition and performance space, and the remaining part of the roof structure was repurposed as an open-air stage.

Today, over 2,000 new residents, including designers, potters, heritage craftsmen, have settled in Tangkou Xu. They haven't just rebuilt a town but rewoven a community, honoring its migratory past while writing a new chapter rooted in place.

The design highlighting "localized warmth"

When architect Ma Yu first arrived in Tangkou, he was immediately captivated by the architecture as Roman Corinthian columns matched perfectly with Chinese glazed tiles, while European patterns intertwined with Lingnan lime sculptures. This was a coherent "collage aesthetic"born from decades of overseas Chinese influence,a visual metaphor of cultural confidence and hybriditythat offers Ma Yu and his team rich inspiration for their design practices.

Nearby in Sangyuan Village, the team faced a defining challenge to design a pavilion donated by a Canadian overseas Chinese amid dozens of existing pavilions built by skilled local craftsmen. The core challenge was how to respect tradition while innovating and breaking through. Rejecting mere replication, the team conducted a systematic field survey, mapping, measuring, and deconstructing more than 20 pavilions into independent components. "The essence of Tangkou's architecture is collage, so we started with deconstruction," Ma Yu explained.

The final design broke from the traditional "round table with four benches" layout, incorporating multiple irregularly shaped seats under the eavesthat encouraged casual use, a space both modern and deeply rooted.

The architecture models at Mume Design

Across all projects, Mume Design adhered to a "de-symbolized" design philosophy, refusing to simply replicate traditional elementsin favor of deeper, functional engagement with local life.

For the Tanxi Xu market renovation, they spent three months conducting in-depth research,observing daily rhythms, interviewing villagers, and devising a phased construction plan to minimize disruption. Restroom designs incorporated passive cooling techniques inresponse to Lingnan's humid climate."Rural design isn'tjust about looking pretty. It's about working respectfully within the logic of local life,"Ma Yu emphasized.

In working with lime sculpture, an iconic craft of Lingnan art, the team opted to blend traditional craftsmanship with contemporary approaches. They invited craftsmen to create lime sculpture couplets and auspicious patterns, incorporating them into the design of the studio's main entrance. This move aimed not just to copy decorative features, but to breathe new life into intangible cultural heritage techniques through practical design elements.

The lime sculpture couplets and auspicious patterns of the studio's main entrance

Collaboration with local craftsmen led to unexpected outcomes. The eye-catching blue doors and windows emerged from a miscommunication. Local craftsmen, mistaking Ma's Henan number for scam calls, proceeded without approval. Initially deemed too bold, the color ultimately proved a perfect counterpoint to Tangkou's muted arcades,a serendipitous symbol of innovation within tradition.

In a corner of the studio, Layers of Lingnan patterned tiles were displayed. These tiles, made primarily of cement and featuring detailed, colorful designs, are iconic elements of Lingnan architecture. During the renovation of TK Space, the team noticed a few patterned tiles hidden under dust, which inspired themto use these tiles as a design feature. "We intend to embed these tiles at the entrances of rooms as decorative accents. This approach gives each room its unique identity. Interactions with local culture often sparked new ideas," said Ma Yu.

Today, Tangkou's revitalized spaces, from the Librairie Avant-Garde in an old granary to co-working hubs and lyric-infused homestays, reflect a delicate balance of memory and modernity, all guided by a simple belief: the best design doesn't impose,it listens.

Grand Granary Bookstore of Librairie Avant-Garde, the first Librairie Avant-Garde in South China

When young people return to the countryside

For Mume Design, the true measure of a building's success is not its photogenic completion, but its lasting role in rural life.Their workspace has become a cultural hub, hosting exhibitions, academic sharing sessions, and performances that bridge countryside and urban audiences. "We launched the 'Mume Youth', hoping to invite artists and thinkers to collaborate, turning the space into a platform for creative exchanges," said Ma Yu.

"Some rural projects face the dilemma of being 'built but unused'. We hope to bring spaces to life through operation," Ma Yu introduced. The café of the studio was run by a local barista, Fen. She previously worked in the catering industry in Macao and Kaiping, but chose to return and start her own business as she witnessed the development of her hometown.

The café of Mume Design

In Ma Yu's view, the interaction with local residents has been especially significant . A farm opened to the residents became his new experimental field after work. Unsure how to begin, he found himself inexperienced from purchasing farming tools to planting vegetables. Local women saw him, and were happy to offer assistance. However, he didn't speak the Jiangmen dialect, while the women didn't speak Mandarin, leading to communication difficulties. Eventually, the women showed him what to do through direct demonstration, overcoming the language barrier through actions. During the harvest, Ma Yu shared the vegetables with the women and his friends, completing a quiet, meaningful exchange within the community.

This connection gently alleviated the homesickness of Ma, a newcomer to the community. "After being away from home for so long, I had overlooked the ties to the land and its people, but now they're naturally developing here in Tangkou," said Ma Yu. The team adopted three stray cats at the studio and care for abandoned kittens, while also employing local village women to help with cleaning. These subtle gestures evoked a comforting feeling of family.

Tangkou has been attracting young people to engage in rural practice through spatial revitalization, cultural innovation, and policy support. Today, Mume Design's projects have extended to other cities in Guangdong, while in Tangkou, they continue to explore more possibilities for reviving arcade streets, passing down traditional crafts, and encouraging young designers to return.

"Our efforts might be modest, but as long as they are positive and sustainable, the countryside will gradually improve," said Ma Yu. After the rain stopped, the studio's blue doors and windows gleamed under the sunlight, and the rice fields in the distance swayed gently in the breeze. The journey of Mume Design and Tangkou carries on to the next chapter.