西侯度遗址圣火公园 | URBANUS都市实践

西侯度遗址位于晋、陕、豫三省交界处山西省芮城县风陵渡镇，北望中条山，南望华山，西临黄河，是世界上最重要的史前人类活动考古点之一，也是第3批全国重点文物保护单位，60年前在此发现了人类最早用火的遗存，距今约180万年。

2019年山西省承办第二届全国青年运动会，并要求通过改造西侯度“人疙瘩岭”上已有的圣火广场以举办“二青会”圣火采集仪式。设计挑战是不能拆除现有的取火台、点火台及广场等设施。解决方案是用大地景观的手法把圣火广场和周边环境整合为一体，形成一个神奇的、灵性的、哲理的场所，用当代设计在这个独特地段上重新解释天人合一。

极短的工期和恶劣的严寒条件倒逼出仿本地生土的GRC材料的创意性运用，材料上以当地黄土为对标样本，采用宝贵石艺的仿土装饰混凝土，协调了文物本体与环境的自然关系。

新规划的圣火公园用“火的发现”，“火的礼仪”和“火的驯服”三个连贯叙事，赋予人疙瘩岭新的人文与自然体验。

参观从原文物陈列馆开始，拾级来到半山腰的山顶体验展示厅，通过深长的山洞将观众从现代场景中脱离出来，带入到原始质朴的境界。原取火台结构保留，外观重新设计，并被包裹在山洞中，用光营造出洞里神秘的氛围。

“火的发现”是开天辟地的人类文明宣言，鬼斧神工的“一线天”剖切，意喻着人类做为盗火者与动物的彻底脱离。通过推算太阳高度角与建筑的轴线角度，使得“二青会”圣火采集中取到圣火的时刻，太阳光角度与“一线天”正好重合。

火使人类从露天进入穴居，声音也从呼喊变为细语和絮语。以埙为原型设计声音装置，让音腔打通洞穴内外，声场连接天空与大地，成为人们诉说的场所与容器。

“火的礼仪”广场上的看台利用了从原圣火广场拆除的大块砂岩，借用周围地形特征，围绕原红色点火台，形成了观看周边景色的层层观景台。这里也是 “岳渎相望（‘岳’指华山，‘渎’指黄河）”的最佳观看点。

本工程还治理了西侧在2016年的工程的建筑垃圾堆砌场，用沟壑的形式最小限度地投入工程量，既恢复了自然景观，又形成了一个迷宫般的路径，象征着在人类在“火的驯服”史上文明的艰难旅程。这里将是未来的开放的露天博物馆。北侧巷道的端头自然形成五个挑台，眺望壮观的黄土高原，体会粗犷的考古场地，欣赏美丽的花椒树林。

重新设计的圣火广场质朴自然，充满神秘，把参观者带入到原始情景中，体验黄河最壮阔的一段风景，以及中国最有世界影响力的一段考古圣地。同时，作为“二青会”的圣火采集地，在我国当代体育史上留下了值得记忆的一页。

Xihoudu historical site is located in Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province at the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. This location is not only the cradle of the Yellow River civilization, but also one of the most important archaeological sites of ancient human activities. Found in late 1950s, here remains the vestige of fire firstly used by human beings about 1.8 million years ago. In 1988, Xihoudu was enlisted as one of the national 1st class cultural relics by the State Council.

In 2016, the Shanxi provincial government built a Holy Fire Plaza for a public torch relay circulating the province. However, the kitschy design is a damage to this holy site.

In 2017, The 2nd Youth Games of the People’s Republic of China was planned to be hosted in Shanxi in 2019, and the program of the flame gathering called for the re-use of Xihoudu Holy Fire Plaza. The challenge is to design something new without dismantling the existing facilities. To fulfill this requirement, as well as to integrate the artificial plaza with the surrounding landscape, the new design aims to make a mystical, spiritual and philosophical place, and to reinterpret the ancient Chinese belief of achieving the ultimate harmony between the nature and the man.

Technique-wise this design is innovative in terms of its material and construction method. The fast-track construction and the severe cold weather condition promote a creative usage of GRC material with both off-site prefabrication and on-site manual form-shaping construction methods. The innovative GRC technique mimics not only the materiality of the local Loess Plateau, but also its texture, and helps to make a harmonic dialogue between the built-form and the natural environment so as to re-install the spirit of place overriding the previous senseless design.

The new holy fire plaza is planned in the principles of making a favorable tourist spot by means of earth art without disturbing the archaeological stratum. With the three sequential narratives of “discovery of fire”, “rite of fire”, and “conquest of fire”, these designated themes from the east to the west of the site not only conform to program of the sports game ceremony, but also form a space-time context for visitors to enjoy the unique nature and the history.

The tour begins from the existing small archaeological museum at the hill foot, and ascends on the stone steps leading to a cave entry.

The cave of “discovery of fire” is indeed an artificial one to house the structure of the former fire seed collecting stage. The easier exterior shape of the cave is formed by factory prefabricated panels, while its interior is sculpted on site by hand to follow the irregular design. The cave is a semi-enclosed room which can be further developed into an exhibition space. The cave takes the visitors away from the modern setting and enter into a primitive one. The discovery of fire is a groundbreaking milestone in human civilization.

This historical moment is illustrated with a split of seam cutting through the cave to bring the light from the heaven. Too much imitation of the natural form would devalue the artistic quality, therefore this “thin strip of sky” is a very artificial measure, meaning that human beings have totally changed their identity as the “fire-stealer”. A carefully calculated angle made it possible to light the fire during the time of holy fire seed collecting from the sunlight beam casting through the split on that ceremonial date.

Another art installation in the cave is the interactive sound devices hung in the cave ceiling. After conquering the fire, human beings could be capable of living in the dark and deep caves to escape from outdoor dangers and inconveniences. This makes them turn shouts into whispers, and hence lose the joy of yelling. This acoustic installation is designed to allow visitors to make voices of whatever they want in a semi-closed capsulated space that connects the heaven and the earth.

The “rite of fire” on the open place recycles the previous stones for the boundary of the plaza to create more stands encircling the existing singular octagonal stand in the center. The stepped new stands refer to the surrounding topographic features, and also function as viewing platforms and seats for the surrounding sceneries. Besides archaeological value, Xihoudu historical site also has great landscape value as it is the best viewing place for Mountain Hua and the Yellow River.

This project also manages to recover the construction leftover in 2016 on the west side. The strategy is to have minimum input to achieve maximal gain in terms of time and cost. This idea is to roughly level the grade and dig trenches to minimally interfere the site. The result is a maze-like passage system, referring to archaeological digging, lead to the viewing decks overlooking the downhill archaeological site, and a path to descend to the lower place. This is also a symbolism of the journey of human’s “conquest of fire”. In the future, this place will become an open outdoor museum.

China is a country with a great collection of cultural and natural wonders. However, the presentational means for such heritages are always conservatively outdated. The design for the Holy Fire Lit Place for the Second China National Youth Games 2019 at Xihoudu Archaeological Site is an effort to change this situation by taking the advantage of a national event. A live TV broadcasting not only has presented a contemporary design for a historical site under the focus of the national wide audience, but also aroused a hot debate focusing on how to make an innovative presentation for time-honored cultural heritages.

项目信息：

主持建筑师: 王辉

项目策动：李雅丽

建筑&景观设计团队: 王坤 李永才 高子絮 汪蕾 刘通

项目地点：山西芮城

设计时间：2018

建设时间：2018-2019

用地面积：11,056㎡

建筑面积：980㎡

建设单位：芮城县政府

合作方：牟森（总艺术顾问） | 马原驰 梅悦子

结构设计：HJI/荷捷顾问 | 李永明 赵艳国

施工图配合: 大连新华兴建筑设计有限公司

施工方：山西西建集团有限公司（总包），北京宝贵石艺科技有限公司（饰面材料），北京华韵园林工程有限公司（内饰面施工）

摄影师：曹百强 曾天培

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