Set among bamboo trees in mountainous land is the BingDing Factory of Qiancheng, a village located an hour away from Jingdezhen, known as the country’s ‘porcelain capital’ because it has produced Chinese ceramics for 1,700 years. A work of the Shanghai firm AZL Architects, the facilities surround a kiln that uses wood as fuel, following traditional methods of ceramic baking. The kiln is built with double-curved brick vaults based on a complex procedure orally handed down for generations. The concrete building reinterprets the shapes of the wood-fired oven through arches. Arches also appear in the facade, closed off with brick lattices. During the wood firing, as many as thirty workers have to be on hand around the clock, so bedrooms and bathrooms are provided at the rear.