Rooted in the history of Jun porcelain production, the Jun Kiln Site Museum brings together archaeological preservation, the presentation of craft and the public life of the old town. Located within Shenhou’s historic kiln conservation area, the proposal stands above porcelain-firing remains from the Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties. These remains ground the exhibitions in the history of the site, allowing visitors to understand the objects alongside the processes and places that produced them.
The architectural forms develop from traditional kiln types, including the domed mantou kiln, and the rotating movement of wheel throwing. The tapering Jun Tower and the sweeping roof of the exhibition hall respond to one another, joined by a walkway that wraps around the tower. The enclosure of a kiln and the rotation, expansion and contraction involved in throwing become volumes, curved surfaces and routes through the building. The experience of making porcelain is carried from the scale of an object into spaces that visitors can move around, enter and explore.
The Jun Tower forms the spiritual centre of the ensemble, around which archaeological protection, exhibitions and the five-coloured-earth landscape are arranged. The timber-covered spaces protecting the remains connect with deep red-and-black galleries, bringing the old kilns, the making process and the display of porcelain into relation; outdoor areas provide space for gatherings in the old town. Craft and its traditional rituals thus intersect with contemporary visits, preserving the history beneath the building while sustaining the cultural community formed around Jun porcelain.
Design studies
Jun Porcelain Community
Introduction
The project occupies the 2013 excavation area of the Shenhou ancient kiln site, in the heart of Shenhou, Yuzhou, Henan. These porcelain kilns date from the Jin to the Ming dynasty and are significant to the history of traditional crafts, particularly ceramics.
The discovery was a major event for Jun porcelain, filling a gap in the archaeological record of kilns within Shenhou. Beginning with remains that bear witness to a millennium of craftsmanship, the design traces the town’s cultural inheritance and establishes a public landmark for its porcelain industry. It reinterprets traditional ritual and the commemorative significance of Jun porcelain in contemporary terms.
These four drawings trace how the architecture grows from the site: beginning with the archaeological remains, then introducing the visitor route, followed by the roof, and finally the tower and five-colour earth.
The Jun Tower rekindles ancient rites.
Old kilns preserve a mastery handed down.
Fire gives voice to the traces of clay.
Five soils honour the land of China.
From raw clay, new forms emerge.
One colour enters the kiln; myriad colours emerge.
Sun, rain and dew sustain the people.
Moonlight and kiln fires illuminate Shenhou.
Site
Location, the old town and the eastern and western excavation areas establish the site conditions.
Shenhou lies in central Henan, southwest of Yuzhou. It is 23.6 km from Yuzhou, 68.6 km from Xuchang and 105 km from Zhengzhou.
Shenhou owes its prosperity and reputation to Jun porcelain. Known as China’s capital of Jun porcelain, this nationally recognised historic town continues to develop its ceramic industry and is celebrated as a living ancient town.
People settled here to farm and make pottery as early as the Xia and Shang periods. Jun porcelain originated in the Tang dynasty and reached its peak under the Northern Song, when it became a prized imperial ware. Shenhou is renowned for its imperial connections, historic townscape and ceramic traditions.
The Shenhou ancient kiln site lies at the junction of Jianshe Road and Cichang Street, north of Jianshe Road and on both sides of Cichang Street. Dating from the Jin to the Ming dynasty, it is important to the history of traditional crafts and ceramics.
The site comprises eastern and western excavation areas. Eighteen kilns have been identified, thirteen of them well preserved, dating from the Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Their historical value supports contemporary Jun porcelain production, the transmission of traditional culture and local identity.
The rectangular site measures 146 m east–west and 48 m north–south. The planning area is 7,177.14 m², of which 3,470.23 m² is available for construction. The ground falls about 2 m from north to south and 3 m from east to west. A porcelain factory borders the north, existing shops the west, and the completed two- and three-storey Jundu Xintiandi commercial development the east and south. The ancient kiln remains occupy two excavation areas.
1. In the heart of the Central Plains, Shenhou forms an important chapter in the history of Chinese porcelain.
2. The site preserves Jun kilns from the Jin to the Ming dynasty within a highly sensitive cultural and geographical setting.
Planning constraints
The proposal responds to conservation boundaries, the permitted construction area and the museum height limit.
a. Western ruins: landscape land.
Eastern ruins: museum site.
b. Museum height limit: 18 m.
c. Comply with protection-area management requirements.
d. Comply with construction-control-zone requirements.
Cultural context
Landscape, the town’s spatial hierarchy, Jun porcelain history and kiln-opening rituals inform the design.
LANDFORM
Yuzhou is described as a plain between two mountain ranges: high to the north and south, with the Ying River’s alluvial plain in the centre. Juci Mountain separates it from Xinmi, Zhengzhou, to the north; Jishan separates it from Pingdingshan to the south. Both belong to the Funiu range. Shenhou occupies the foothills of Jishan, surrounded by Daliu Hill to the south, Qianming Hill to the north, Fengchi Hill to the east and Fengyang Hill to the west. The Xiao River flows southeast along Daliu Hill through the town, eventually joining the Ru River.
CLIMATE
The site has a warm-temperate continental monsoon climate with ample warmth, rainfall and sunshine, and a long frost-free season. Spring is dry and windy; summer is hot with concentrated rain; autumn is clear and sunny; winter is cold with little rain or snow. Annual mean temperature is 13–16°C, rainfall approximately 650 mm and the frost-free period 218 days. Mean wind speed is 2.5 m/s. Southerly winds prevail in summer, northerly winds in winter; the principal annual wind direction is northeast.
SOILS
Yuzhou’s soils are predominantly typical brown soils developed in yellow and reddish loess, together with moist yellow alluvial soils along river terraces and moist alluvial brown soils.
Temples and ancestral halls form the principal public centres. Theatre stages and academies form a secondary network of communal life. Courtyards and ordinary houses are the basic units of a branching, hierarchical spatial structure.
Long streets, narrow courts, branching lanes and repeated pitched-roof courtyard units form the old town’s fabric. One river connects five settlements, establishing a clustered townscape along its banks.
Shenhou has a thousand-year pottery tradition. Jun porcelain is distinguished by the natural transmutation of its glazes in the kiln: one colour enters, myriad colours emerge. This produces its distinctive beauty and artistic effects. Generations of ceramic artists and master craftspeople have developed the tradition. The History of Chinese Ceramics describes Jun ware as opening a new realm in ceramic craft and aesthetics, a remarkable achievement.
A millennium of Jun porcelain culture preserves kiln-opening ceremonies and the worship of three deities: Tushan Dawang, Boling Xianweng and Jinhuo Shengmu.
The ceremony includes an invocation, incense offerings, the burning of written petitions and ritual bows.
1. Ritual elevates traditional craft into a shared cultural practice.
2. Temples and ancestral halls form the ritual core; theatre stages and academies form a secondary cultural network. Commercial courtyards and dwellings provide the everyday units of a layered spatial structure connected by branching paths.
Craft experience
Apprenticeship, the sequence of ceramic production and traditional kiln buildings provide working prototypes.
Jun porcelain skills are transmitted through apprenticeship and accumulated experience. Glaze transmutation in the kiln is a decisive stage in this sequence of specialised crafts.
Traditional process: prepare materials → form the body → biscuit-fire → glaze → glaze-fire → unload
The architectural prototype of Jun porcelain production in Shenhou:
Mantou kiln + pitched timber roof
Archaeological remains
The excavation records kilns, workshops and movable artefacts across a complete production sequence.
The site lies on Jiefang Road in Shenhou’s busy centre, close to the town government, private kilns and shops. This setting led the Jianye Group to plan the Jundu Xintiandi commercial street development.
During demolition of the former state-owned porcelain factory and removal of construction debris, large quantities of pottery sherds were found just below the surface.
Ancient kilns were thus discovered at the centre of Shenhou, the historic porcelain town.
Eighteen kilns have been identified, mostly round mantou kilns 4–6 m in diameter. Seven kilns lie within six excavation squares in the west of the first excavation area. Repeated intercutting indicates a large kiln complex used over time.
The large mantou kilns generally have two or three flues. This arrangement improved heat distribution and enabled high-quality porcelain production. It offers a valuable reference for contemporary firing techniques and the continued development of Jun porcelain.
A mantou kiln comprises a combustion chamber, kiln bed and chimney.
Thirteen of the eighteen identified kilns are well preserved.
An eastern workshop contained stone grinding discs, throwing wheels, black-glazed jars, stone stools and spades, with clay stored in its southwest corner. Another contained clay-settling tanks and small hearths thought to have dried unfired bodies.
Similar workshops occur in the west. Together, these remains document raw-material processing, forming and firing: a large kiln complex with a complete production sequence. They provide important evidence of the ceramic industry in Shenhou during this period.
Remains of the entire production process are exceptionally well preserved.
Tens of thousands of sherds include Jin Jun ware, black- and white-glazed porcelain; Yuan Jun ware, celadon, and black- and white-glazed porcelain; and abundant Ming black-painted white ware. Forms range from everyday bowls, saucers, plates, jars, basins, lamps, bottles and cups to human and animal figurines and marbled-clay balls. They demonstrate the diversity of production.
Many movable artefacts will be displayed in the Shenhou Ancient Kiln Site Museum.
Three workshops from the Jin–Yuan period were excavated. One eastern workshop contained grinding discs, throwing wheels, black-glazed jars, stone stools and spades, with stored clay in its southwest corner. Another contained settling tanks and small drying hearths. Similar workshops occur in the west. The evidence reconstructs material processing, forming and firing across a complete, large-scale production complex.
1. Mantou kilns predominate, each comprising a combustion chamber, kiln bed and chimney.
2. The site’s archaeological strata include modern, Qing, Ming and Yuan layers.
3. Many movable artefacts will be displayed in the Shenhou Ancient Kiln Site Museum.
Design concept
The Jun Tower, protection hall, exhibition spaces, roof and five-colour earth landscape form related spatial systems.
The mantou kiln’s form and the ritual spaces of the Po Pagoda inform the tower.
Shenhou’s public spaces and branching, encircling paths inform the exhibition spaces.
Historic kiln production spaces inform the protection hall.
The five-colour earth landscape evokes China’s rich ceramic soils.
It covers the western remains during their sealed conservation period.
1. The Jun Tower combines the mantou kiln’s form with the ritual spaces of the Po Pagoda. The protection hall draws on kiln production spaces; the exhibition spaces draw on Shenhou’s public-space network and branching paths.
2. Wheel throwing, mantou kilns, Northern Song pagodas and modern kiln workshops inform a ritual system of spiral ramps surrounding the Jun Tower.
3. Traditional mantou kilns and a modern timber frame form the ruins protection system.
4. A red-black exhibition system translates the layered spatial fabric of historic Shenhou.
5. Solid externally and colourful within, the roof system draws on the old town’s layered roofs, Jun porcelain’s varied glazes and the experience of traditional handcraft.
The Jun porcelain community
The Jun Tower forms the community’s spiritual centre. Ruins protection, exhibition and five-colour earth landscape systems gather around it in a centripetal spatial arrangement.
Traditional craft process
Skills are passed from master to apprentice through experience: preparing materials, forming, firing, glazing, glaze-firing, kiln transmutation and unloading.
The design expresses the Jun porcelain production sequence. The Jun Tower, ruins protection hall and exhibition spaces respectively represent ritual, the stages of making, and the display and circulation of finished work.
Technical drawings
Masterplan, indicators, zoning, circulation, floor plans, elevations and sections document the proposal.
| Indicator | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Total site area | 7,177 | m² |
| Floor area | 810 | m² |
| Exhibition area | 424 | m² |
| Jun Tower area | 324 | m² |
| Public toilets | 62 | m² |
| Protected archaeological display | 1,118 | m² |
| Public plaza | 1,032 | m² |
| Ritual plaza | 1,288 | m² |
| Five-colour earth landscape | 1,743 | m² |
| Building footprint | 1,324.1 | m² |
| Floor-area ratio | 0.18 | — |
| Site coverage | 16% | — |
Planting: bamboo, pink and white magnolias, camphor, sweet osmanthus and Manila grass.
Landscape materials: sesame-white granite, five-colour sand, safety glass and weathering steel.
Construction and materials
Contemporary timber construction and porcelain-sherd concrete connect material expression with the craft tradition.
The building combines contemporary timber construction with exposed concrete. The protection hall uses an efficient prefabricated timber system, minimising disturbance to the ruins during construction and providing good thermal performance. The Jun Tower uses board-formed exposed concrete incorporating porcelain sherds to create a ritual space with an earthy material character.
Epilogue
The Shenhou Ancient Kiln Site Museum comprises three principal elements: the ritual Jun Tower, a colourful protection hall that reveals the ancient remains, and exhibition spaces with an industrial material character. Together they embody a public model of the thousand-year Jun porcelain community, creating a monument to its history and continuing cultural achievement.