Leisure agriculture operations should focus on the application of design concepts

Leisure agriculture is a leisure activity through which urban and rural residents use the rural natural environment, farming activities, rural architecture, green food, and so on to offset the pressures of city life. It is a tourism experience that satisfies spiritual needs such as relaxation of body and mind, return to nature, exploration of novelty, and leisure entertainment. The operating site, through materialized environmental elements, creates a non-material spiritual space and can become a carrier of emotion, triggering visitors' perception of and associations with the environment. Therefore, the operating site is an important component of leisure agriculture.

However, because most leisure agriculture operating sites are directly converted from rural production and living facilities, they were not purpose-built for the needs of leisure tourism. In addition, most operators have long lived in the countryside and are accustomed to viewing rural resources from the perspective of daily life rather than from the perspective of leisure. As a result, leisure agriculture operating sites often present the countryside's original production and living facilities to visitors. These facilities are indeed part of rural character, but they cannot create a rural atmosphere with spiritual resonance, leading some leisure agriculture operations to emphasize tangible material products and neglect intangible spiritual products, and thus fail to meet market demand.

In fact, rural areas have abundant resources that can serve as design elements for operating sites. The key lies in how to transform these tangible material resources through design into a rural atmosphere. And these atmospheres should shape visitors' imaginations, expectations, preferences, and ideas about the countryside within the leisure agriculture operating site. Specifically, on the one hand, regional characteristics should be distilled and rural culture highlighted; on the other hand, functional design should be emphasized to meet leisure needs.

Distill regional characteristics and highlight rural culture. The design of the site should deeply explore, distill, absorb, and reshape the characteristics of rural production and life, integrate them into the operating site, and present a spatial environment with rural characteristics.

Create a rural style. The rural production and lifestyle of "green, healthy, peaceful, and free" is the core of product design, and the design style of the site should create such an atmosphere.

Use local materials. Building materials, through their own texture and color, affect the quality of the operating site and the spiritual feelings of visitors. In order to blend with the surrounding environment and express regional characteristics, building materials should make greater use of natural earth, wood, stone, bamboo, grass, wheat straw, and so on. These materials can create an idyllic farmhouse charm of returning to nature, allowing visitors to feel a strong rural warmth.

Accent with farmhouse decorations. Farmhouse decorations are generally small in scale, but they are important elements in the operating site for heightening the atmosphere and deepening the mood, and they often achieve the effect of adding the finishing touch. The accent of decorations should strive to be simple and natural, highlight rural and regional qualities in the selection of elements, and express a farmhouse theme.

Achieve diverse display. The operating site contains rich rural elements, and through interactive experiences, educational explanations, and other methods, visitors' impressions and feelings of rural elements can be deepened.

Emphasize functional design and meet leisure needs. The design of the site should not only focus on the authenticity of culture, but also integrate more modern ways of experience, so that rural culture can be better conveyed to visitors.

Ensure cleanliness and tidiness. Cleanliness and tidiness represent the basic image of the operating site and directly affect the product experience. For example, some restaurants have dirty, messy, and poor hygiene conditions. Dining in such an environment, even if the farmhouse food is very distinctive and delicious enough, cannot possibly receive good reviews from visitors; restrooms are necessities in the leisure experience process for visitors, and they also reflect the image of the leisure tourism destination and are directly related to the experience.

Enhance the comfort experience. The comfort of the site can make visitors stay longer, promote their desire to experience, and make them willing to visit again. Leisure agriculture should not be limited by traditional rural design and thereby reduce this aspect of the experience. For example, farmhouse guest rooms often retain the kang with rural characteristics, but the comfort of the kang is relatively poor. In the design process, a mattress can be added on the kang. Such a design retains rural characteristics while also meeting the need for a comfortable experience.

Emphasize private environments. Leisure agriculture is a product with diverse individuality and strong experiential quality. In the process of experiencing it, visitors are often unwilling to be interfered with or disturbed by the outside world. For example, in terms of private space, guest rooms should be designed in diverse room types according to different types of visitors, and special attention should be paid to the soundproofing effect of the rooms; in terms of public space, restaurants should pay attention to the design of partitions, using objects to enclose and suggest to form defined spaces, so as to enhance the sense of privacy of the space.

Create a leisure atmosphere. Most visitors travel in groups, so some small leisure spaces should be provided to meet visitors' needs for gathering and communication. For example, in addition to fulfilling the living function, guest rooms can, where space permits, be equipped with tea tables, tables and chairs, and so on, so that they have the conditions for chatting and drinking tea; courtyards often contain architectural accents with rural characteristics. Some architectural accents, such as landscape pavilions and corridor frames, are often suitable places for gathering and resting, and this function can be fully brought into play through design renovation, matching furniture, and so on.