Exciting rebirth of Jinyun's ancient quarries

A colorful and enchanting opera is performed in a Jinyun quarry. [Photo/lsnews.com.cn]

An exhibition entitled Jinyun Quarries - The Quarry as Stage recently opened at the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin in Germany, exploring the transformation of nine abandoned quarries in Jinyun county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province.

The size of reserves in Jinyun of tuff – a rock composed of the finer kinds of volcanic detritus usually fused together by heat – is said to rank it first in China. As an ancient city of thousands of years, the county retains large-scale quarry relics.

In 2021, Jinyun invited Beijing architect Xu Tiantian and her architecture studio DnA_Design and Architecture to develop strategies for new uses for nine of the over 3,000 small, abandoned quarries in the county.

"We tried to transform the quarries by means of the smallest-scale interventions possible. We want to convert the 'negative space' to 'positive assets'," she said.

The transformed quarries now provide a stage for cultural and social activities – while simultaneously striving to introduce sensitive environmental improvements and create new economic perspectives for the rural population, according to Xu.

The collision of old relics with modern architectural design is said to have given these abandoned quarries a new lease of life.

With their unique aesthetic style, they have quickly become popular cultural attractions on social media platforms, attracting visitors from all over the country.