Vernacular Reinterpretation for Cultural and Spatial Sustainability: Translating Traditional Miao Spatial Elements into Contemporary Design in Jiubai Village, China

Traditional Miao villages in southwest China are being reshaped by rural modernization, tourism development, and changing everyday practices, creating a need for architectural interventions that accommodate contemporary functions without reducing local culture to decorative motifs. This study examines Jiubai Village in Guizhou Province through the lens of vernacular reinterpretation and develops a design-driven pathway linking the identification of vernacular spatial elements, interpretation of socio-spatial meanings, refinement of design principles, and translation into contemporary architecture. The research combines documentary study, repeated field surveys, morphological and typological analysis, oral-history interviews, informal discussions, and architectural design experimentation. The results reveal a multi-scalar socio-spatial system linking topographic and material adaptation with village-scale collective spaces, ritual practices, and household-scale gathering around the huotang. They also show uneven modernization and the persistence of cultural and spatial values despite functional change. The proposed design intervention translates these relationships through an open collective ground floor, a reinterpreted huotang, terrain-responsive form, timber expression, and layered contemporary functions. This study suggests that relational reinterpretation, rather than formal imitation, may support cultural continuity and spatial sustainability in rural revitalization, while broader environmental, economic, and long-term social sustainability remains beyond the scope of this assessment.