A Carpenter's Studio in Henan Province Gets a Roof That Follows the Mountain

A carpenter's studio in central China has a timber roof that rises and dips with the hills behind it. Primary Architects designed the building, called the Carpenter's Home, at the entrance to Haotang Village in Xinyang, in Henan Province. Dezeen reported the design on 10 November 2026.

The house belongs to Zhang, a local carpenter. It holds his working studio and a woodcraft workshop that is open to the public. The lightweight timber structure covers 405 square metres, about 4,360 square feet, and sits at the foot of a mountain, between the slope and the village.

The roof is the main event. It is made of hyperbolic curved beams, which bend in two directions at once, like the surface of a saddle. Those beams span up to 26 metres, roughly 85 feet. The roof's wavy outline echoes the surrounding terrain, sloping down from the mountainside so that the height gap between the hill and the village is closed.

Building it took a mix of old and new methods. The roof joints combine glued timber with steel, and the shape was set using parametric control, a method where computer rules govern how each part is shaped, along with digital modelling. The roof was built as modules in a factory, then put together on site.

Inside, the ground floor is the carpenter's woodworking shop, with a separate area for tourists and visitors to hold exhibitions and take tours. The mezzanine, a raised level above the main floor, holds a tea room.

Light comes in through curved skylights set into the timber roof. Each one is angled to follow the sun's path across the sky, so the interiors stay lit during working hours.

For visitors, the design keeps the work in view. The shop sits at the heart of the building, so people walking through can watch the craft happen while they look up at the roof above them.