From Static Heritage Display to Adaptable Cultural Infrastructure: A Design-Oriented Spatial Regeneration Framework for Rural Exhibition Spaces in Changfang Village, China

Rural cultural regeneration in China frequently improves physical environments while leaving weak connections among settlement heritage, cultural practices, and everyday public life. Taking Changfang Village in Anhui Province as a design-oriented case study, this research develops a traceable spatial regeneration framework for transforming rural exhibition spaces from static heritage display toward adaptable cultural infrastructure. The study combines a literature review, comparative case analysis, field observation, spatial mapping, and an online questionnaire with 143 valid responses, the latter being used only as descriptive design feedback. The analysis identifies four interrelated gaps: insufficient interpretation of the “Nine Dragons Gathering the Pearl” settlement pattern, weak everyday connection with the regionally rooted Zhijian processing heritage, fragmented cultural nodes, and limited spatial support for adaptable community-oriented uses. In response, three mechanisms are derived: evolving heritage interpretation, mixed-use and reversible programming, and spatial abstraction of craft operations. These mechanisms are spatialized through a conceptual scheme integrating a village history hall, Zhijian processing interpretation and workshop spaces, community gallery and reading areas, a central courtyard, a cultural square, and a rooftop route. The study proposes an evidence–diagnosis–mechanism–spatial response framework for design translation and illustrates how this framework can be applied in a single rural case. The resulting scheme should be understood as a conceptual design proposition rather than a validated architectural performance outcome. Participation, governance, cultural validity, environmental performance, and long-term operation require future co-design, prototyping, technical assessment, and post-occupancy evaluation.