In the renewal of rural self-built houses, dispersed construction patterns, insufficient design guidance, and resource constraints often lead to tensions between individual building needs and the overall settlement landscape. Grounded in the theory of spatial self-organization, this study proposes a roof interface renewal framework of “Clustering–Collaboration–self-organization,” and takes Dianju Village in Anning City, Yunnan Province, as a case study to explore how limited architectural interventions can address the fragmentation of roof landscapes in rural settlements. This research adopts a mixed-method approach combining ethnographic fieldwork, resident design observation, and post-occupancy evaluation (POE). The POE was conducted with 16 participating households, focusing on residents’ perceptions of roof usability, visual order, material acceptance, opportunities for neighborhood interaction, and maintenance issues. The findings indicate that residents generally perceive that continuous roof treatment, the application of bamboo–timber materials, and adjustable structural units have improved the usability of roof spaces, while enhancing their recognition of the overall village image and the expression of local materials. At the same time, residents’ feedback suggests that the long-term performance of bamboo–timber materials still depends on continuous maintenance and appropriate structural protection. The contribution of this study lies in translating spatial self-organization theory into a participatory and locally adaptive process of rural landscape renewal. Rather than providing a directly replicable roof typology, this case offers exploratory insights into key interface identification, resident negotiation, and localized construction strategies for the renewal of rural self-built houses in developing and transitional contexts.
Chen et al. (Mon,) studied this question.