Quarries of Jinyun, Zhejiang Province, China

Xu Tiantian’s projects in the quarries of Jinyun combine aspects of landscape planning, interior design, artistic installations, and social planning with an economic revitalization of the rural area. The semi-arid landscape of the region has been partly defined by years of mining of natural stone, resulting in over three thousand small, abandoned quarries. In a journey described as moving from “economic exploitation to ecological reuse” by Xu Tiantian, lead architect at DnA, nine of the three thousand quarries in the cluster were chosen to serve as a rather unusual stage for cultural and social activities in the region, while opening up economic and ecological opportunities for the native rural population.