Architectural Culture Research Articles

Exploring the correlation of space creation in Suzhou classical gardens and the Chinese calligraphy Yan Zhenqing’s three manuscripts

ABSTRACT Chinese calligraphy and Suzhou classical gardens exhibit unique and distinctive formal attributes and layout styles. This paper examines the interrelationships from a spatial perspective, using classical gardens such as the Humble Administrators’ Garden, the Lingering Garden, and the Master of Nets Garden, alongside Yan Zhenqing’s Three Manuscripts (颜公三稿), as illustrative examples. From the theoretical stance of “Heterogeneous Homology”, this investigation assesses the comparability between calligraphy and garden design. It highlights the shared spatial features of “Emptiness-Substance” and “Denseness-Sparseness”, analyzing their specific applications within each realm. Furthermore, the “Correspondence and Guidance” is fulfilled to effectively integrate the spatial boundary within their respective domains. The findings reveal profound similarities in spatial construction between calligraphy and garden design, highlighting the traditional Chinese aesthetic pursuits of emptiness, distance, and externality. These findings affirm the ancient Chinese pursuit of the natural philosophical concept of “the unity of nature and human”. Consequently, it is proposed that future design and urban spatial planning should emphasize the application of the spatial techniques and cultural meanings embedded in these arts. This approach aims to provide a multidimensional and detailed interdisciplinary perspective on future research concerning Asian architectural culture and art history.

An analysis of the development path of ethnic villages under the protection of traditional Jiarong culture

Most of the villages in the north-west ethnic areas of Sichuan are located within a culturally rich zone. However, during the process of village modernization, the protection and inheritance of traditional culture are often overlooked. This study has investigated the construction techniques and spatial components of traditional villages in Lixian, Sichuan Province, from the perspective of cultural inheritance. It analyzes and synthesizes representative design language and proposes a design concept that combines spatial perspective and cultural inheritance to conduct research on design paths aimed at strengthening functional positioning, optimizing spatial layout, improving village style, and improving infrastructure. The objective is to establish a research path to maintain the village-style during post-disaster process reconstruction and village development, thus protecting the unique local architectural culture and achieving comprehensive village development. In addition, we explored issues such as the lack of architectural style and the lagging development of human settlements, aiming to promote rural revitalization and integrated urban-rural development in this area.

Out of Office

In order to challenge the non-inclusive aspects of Belgian architectural culture, the article explores inspiring practices. It gathers insights from two pairs of individuals: Ivan and Valentine from the non-profit organization Convivence-Samenleven, and Bernardo and Marianita from the collective Mama (Maintenance Matters). Each of them has consciously chosen to depart from traditional architectural offices and their usual working conditions to directly engage with local communities. Their narratives extend an invitation to reconsider our work frameworks, time commitments, relationships with users, and redefine project evaluation criteria. On a broader scale, they encourage us to reflect on the social significance of an architect's work.

Architectural culture and interaction Antonio Gaudi ve Frank Lloyd Wright

Architectural culture and interaction Antonio Gaudi ve Frank Lloyd Wright

From Ration Cards and Refugee Camps: Bureaucracy, Domesticity, and the 'Bleak House' that Modern Architecture Built During and After World War I

Histories of architecture and WWI have often placed wartime advances in mechanization and standardization at the center of analysis, emphasizing how they opened new fields of inquiry in the aftermath of global conflict. These accounts, many written by leading apologists for interwar modernism, have concluded that materials and technologies breathed life into a period that was itself deemed a new beginning. This notion of a distinct break with the past and a start to a promising new era veils, obscures, and erases the violence and atrocities of the war. In a context where, as we argue, the social and material repercussions of World War I continued well into the 1920s, Elizabeth Povinelli, Sharika Thiranagama, and Jim Sykes’ writings on the concept of the ‘bleak house’ are illuminating. They posit that war characterized not only by obviously violent acts but also by the creation of ‘exhausted social worlds’. The perceived fracture between the wartime and postwar worlds served a particular purpose in rationalizing massive suffering. Indeed, the interwoven bureaucratic, militaristic, ... War I formed the very basis of interwar architecture culture. Amidst the wreckage, designers, economists, planners, and military personnel forged not a new world but an extension of wartime physical and mental geographies disguised in utopian community building.

Artificial Neural Network-based robust technique for period prediction of Ottoman minarets in Türkiye

Minarets are crucial as symbolic and indispensable elements in mosques across religious communities worldwide. Beyond architectural culture, hazardous conditions have shaped the minaret structural formations in Islamic geography. Among these, masonry minarets built during the Ottoman Empire faced significant vulnerability to lateral forces due to their slender design, brittle materials, and distinctive shapes. After many earthquakes experienced in the 20th and 21st centuries, the collapse of numerous minarets highlights the urgent need to preserve the remaining structures in high seismicity regions of the historical Ottoman lands, moreover, identifying and fortifying the most vulnerable ones takes precedence. This study proposes an innovative approach, departing from previous research that solely focused on the correlation between geometrical and material properties such as height, cross-section area, moment of inertia, Young’s modulus, and material density using approximate formulas to predict the fundamental periods. Instead, it introduces a novel technique based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to predict the first three periods of Ottoman masonry minarets. Accurate measurements from 18 minarets located in Bursa City, Türkiye, were meticulously collected under ambient conditions, serving as the foundation for the neural network's comprehensive output database. The distinct parameters (geometrical and material properties) of these minarets form the input dataset. To mitigate the influence of random measurement noise, an effective averaging scheme was implemented. As a result, the proposed ANN technique demonstrates its robustness and holds great promise for practical applications, as it enables accurate estimation of the desired modal information for both the 18 minarets used to train the networks and the remaining three minarets, achieving high levels of accuracy.

China-aided conference buildings in developing countries: a mosaic analysis of database

ABSTRACT The China-aided conference building has garnered global attention due to its diplomatic implications, symbolic representation, iconic stature, and bilateral cultural expression. These constructions play a significant role in the cross-cultural communication of Chinese architecture under the One Belt and One Road Initiative (BRI). Despite the prevalence of such buildings with China’s aid, there exists a substantial gap in the systematic and comprehensive research on this topic. This study constructed a database of 157 China-aided conference buildings, spanning from 1962 to 2022. This data was subsequently analyzed by a mosaic approach, employing a model of six indicators across two dimensions: macro characteristics and building ontology. The results indicate that the macro-distribution characteristics mirror China’s trends in international cooperation and development and are closely tied to China’s political policies and economic conditions. Chinese architects exhibit eclectic expressions, incorporating modern architectural language, local culture, and Chinese architectural culture. These findings also highlight the ongoing evolution of the Chinese architectural knowledge system. This research complements Chinese architecture and China’s aid, offering designers, researchers, and policymakers in cross-border architecture a comprehensive perspective and design trends of China-aided conference buildings. This is particularly beneficial for the cross-cultural communication of overseas architectural cooperation under the BRI.

Construction and characteristic analysis of landscape gene maps of traditional villages along ancient Qin-Shu roads, Western China

The landscape of traditional villages reflects specific geographical and cultural environments, with distinct regional cultural and living space characteristics. An exploration of the deep genetic core of traditional villages from the perspective of “cultural landscape genes” can help reveal the mechanism of historical evolution of regional settlements and provide a reference for maintaining the regional characteristics of traditional villages today. This study focuses on 23 nationally recognized traditional villages along the northern roads of the ancient Qin-Shu roads. The “landscape-gene” theory, centred on both artificial construction and cultural inheritance in traditional villages, was used to develop a method for identifying and extracting the northern roads of the ancient Qin-Shu roads landscape genes in “architecture culture”. Then, a genome of the cultural landscape of traditional villages was constructed. Six different dimensions with identified genes, including environmental layout, landscape, architectural landscape, material culture, behavioural culture and mentality culture, were analysed. The results showed the following: (1) the traditional villages on the northern roads of the ancient Qin–Shu roads have 8 genes in the constructed landscape, including ‘location layout mainly along mountains and ancient roads, supplemented by water and pictographic patterns’, ‘orderly, flexible and changeable spatial form’, ‘natural landscape surrounded by mountains and rivers, culture and scenery blend’, ‘water in the south and drought in the north’, ‘agricultural main forest auxiliary production landscape’, ‘single north section, complex south section courtyard layout’, ‘load-bearing diversity, good utilization of the gable building structure’, ‘combination of earth, stone and bamboo, recycled and reused building materials’ and ‘atmospheric regularity, exquisite and gorgeous building decoration’. (2) There were six cultural landscape genes, such as ‘strong personalities and regional customs’, ‘preference for flavourful and spicy foods, wine and meat’, which characterized material culture. ‘Romantic history and thrifty values’, and a ‘combination of elegance and vulgarity’ characterized behavioural culture. The mentality of the region was characterized by ‘Xiangtu and Shengxing’, ‘open and inclusive values’, and ‘varied’ beliefs. (3) Philosophical and cosmological underpinnings such as the ‘unity of heaven and humanity’ and the ‘yin-yang and five-element’ theory guide human settlements in traditional villages along the northern roads. This study aims to clarify the characteristics of cultural landscapes in traditional villages through the analysis of cultural landscape genes and a resulting mapped genome, which will provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of cultural landscapes in traditional villages. Cultural genes can protect the inheritance of regional culture and provide a new perspective for the study of traditional villages along linear cultural heritage zones.

Pan-museum Concept Implanted in Chinese Traditional Village Development and Conservation

Since the reform and opening up, the economy has been improving, but the protection of traditional villages and the study of cultural heritage have not kept pace with the times. With the development of tourism, a large number of traditional villages have been commercially exploited, resulting in the destruction of many architectural cultures, including some other local cultures. Through the research and protection of traditional villages, the study of the history of the origin of traditional villages can be established to provide valuable and correct historical data for the research, and at the same time, a correct awareness of the protection of cultural heritage can be set up, so that the development of traditional villages can be carried out in a restrained and orderly manner. The concept of pan-museum is proposed in order to make the traditional villages better express themselves as a carrier for promoting and passing on local culture, which is rich in local cultural values, and can better pass on local culture and stimulate t

Properties of Sustainable Earth Construction Materials: A State-of-the-Art Review

As a significant symbol of human civilization advancement, earth construction not only inherits traditional architectural culture but also enjoys worldwide popularity and widespread usage throughout China due to its economic and environmentally friendly nature, as well as its moisture absorption and heat storage advantages. Consequently, earth construction has garnered considerable attention from international scholars. This paper compiles relevant data to review the developmental trajectory of earth construction, while conducting an in-depth analysis of the performance characteristics of earthen materials. Furthermore, it provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of three modification methods on the mechanical and durability properties of earthen materials, along with a discussion on the research concerning the thermal and moisture performance of these materials. Simultaneously, discussions were held on the relevant research findings and potential directions for the development of earthen materials. Finally, conclusions were drawn, suggesting a comprehensive utilization of their thermal and moisture performance, emphasizing the enhancement of their mechanical and durability performance. Additionally, attention was urged towards the economic and ecological aspects during the construction and maintenance phases of earth construction. These recommendations aim to facilitate the sustainable development and widespread application of earthen materials in the future.

Influence and Untimeliness in Modern Architecture: A Conversation between Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Amanda Reeser Lawrence

A conversation between Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Amanda Reeser Lawrence recorded on November 13, 2023 at the Yale School of Architecture. The conversation focuses on their shared interest in twentieth-century American architecture culture, including architectural pedagogy marked by the use of architectural precedents as a generative design tool and the rise of art historical formalism as a dominant method of teaching architectural history. During the discussions the authors unpacked the key concepts and intellectual roots of their respective projects, “untimeliness” and the “usable past” (Pelkonen) and “influence” and “anachronism” (Lawrence) and shared notes on how they approach history teaching in a design school setting so as to make it an integral part of architectural thought.

Places of memory and contemplation: The rational and the emotions as fundamental elements to the conception of architecture integrated in the landscape

Throughout the history of Western culture, landscape has been transformed according to the search for the representation of an image of paradise, and it has acquired and absorbed principles dictated by the mental, cultural, social and political framework in which it is involved. Suburban villas are contextualized interpretations of ways of using and occupying the landscape, organized and built by cultural and economic elites, creating places where landscape and architecture complement each other in a hasty manner. The research focused on the suburban Villa of Renaissance influence as a reference and on framing and contextualizing it in the historiography and culture of Architecture and Landscape in Portuguese historical areas. The evolution of the concepts of suburban Villa, garden, villegiattura and ideal Villa was addressed. The research was conducted on the relationship between the mind, the rational, and the emotions of those who inhabit/perceive space and those who design it. From the demonstration of the adequacy of the same structuring, compositional and programmatic principles resulting from a cultural and historical evolution to new times and regional cultures, and their framing in times of artistic and Cultural Revolution, the same conceptual principles, spatial orders and types of relationship with the landscape were adapted to avant-garde compositional grammars in other architectural types and urban structures. This study proves the existence of an important contribution to Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Landscape Architecture, of an architectural culture synthesized in the analysis of the cases treated. A contribution also to teaching and professional practice, from the identification of recent works that reveal the same principles, spatial orders, approach to place and relationship with the landscape.

Silk Road Concerto: Spatial Narratives of Architectural Cultural Heritage and Linguistic Landscapes in Xinjiang

Abstract The Silk Road is another important international trade route emerging in Eurasia, and Xinjiang, as an important node of the Silk Road, is of great significance in effectively sorting out and studying the architectural cultural heritage of Xinjiang. This paper tries to introduce the concept of spatial grouping in the exploration of the conservation method of Xinjiang’s architectural and cultural heritage and deeply excavate the spatial grouping relationship between each heritage point from the spatial perspective. It combines the quantitative analysis method of space syntax and topological calculation to provide a novel method and thought for studying the spatial narrative of architectural cultural heritage and its linguistic landscape in Xinjiang. The architectural cultures of Marathi Grassland, Sayram Lake, and Kanas Lake in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are selected as the research objects, and the linguistic landscapes are divided into two dimensions of official and private linguistic landscapes for specific analysis. In the evaluation of the spatial perception of cultural architecture in Xinjiang, the weight of the permeability factor consisting of four dimensions, namely width, size, dynamics, and enclosure, is 0.6579, which verifies the feasibility of quantitative research and provides a supplement based on subjective visual perception. It is also found that both the official and private language landscapes have the national common language as the dominant language, and the language landscapes of instructional function, behavioral regulation function, and cognitive function have a larger proportion. In contrast, the other languages provide convenience for foreign tourists to a certain extent.

Research on Architectural Culture and Kiln Dwelling Forms in Yulin Area, Northern Shaanxi Province

Research on Architectural Culture and Kiln Dwelling Forms in Yulin Area, Northern Shaanxi Province

Symmetry, architectural culture and theory – the case of Hindu architectural texts ‘shruti/śruti’ and ‘smriti’ in ‘śāstra pramāṇam’ tradition

Symmetry is one of the most fundamental and ubiquitous phenomena in architecture and theory. In this article, we investigated Hindu architectural treatises of ancient Vedic literature that conceptualised and described symmetry in the theory of medieval India. The case focused on Shruti/Śruti and Smriti texts based on Śāstra pramāṇam tradition and asked how architectural treatises transmitted the narratives on symmetry through cultural dynamics, wisdom and heritage. The paper revealed that architectural texts approached symmetry in architectural culture knowledge.

Multiculturalism and the Fetishization of Ethnic Difference in Mauritius

ABSTRACT: Mauritius is often celebrated as a success story in lay and academic discourse. One version of this discourse highlights Mauritius's success in managing its diversity as a multicultural society. But there are a number of reasons to question this assumption. For instance, some writers have claimed that Mauritius's policy of multiculturalism encourages the promotion of ethnic difference and marginalizes certain minorities (Couacaud 2016, Eisenlohr 2006, Vaughan 2001). In this paper, however, I propose to go further and argue that Mauritius's policy of multiculturalism not only promotes ethnic difference and marginalizes certain minorities. It has also led to what one could describe as the "fetishization of ethnic difference." I propose to demonstrate this by discussing how material religious practices act as signs of ethnic difference in everyday life, using ethnographic observations and visual documentation methods for these purposes. Examples cited in the paper include the material culture of temple architecture, religious street-processions, garden shrines, homes, workplaces, and vehicles.

From the South: Exhibiting Architectural History

In 1983, the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá established its Department of Architecture, a curatorial unit that was active until 1995. During that time, twenty exhibitions were presented, and eight of them were monographic shows. While at the start, the department focused on European architects, later on, more emphasis was placed on Colombian architecture. This emphasis echoed two significant events in Latin American architectural culture: first, the Seminars of Latin American Architecture, and second, the editorial series SomoSur. These two events encouraged exhibitions with a strong commitment to study, present, and celebrate Colombian architecture from diverse architectural traditions. Through archival research and interviews, this paper examines the intellectual reverberations between seminars, publications, and exhibitions. It highlights the use of monographic exhibitions and how they were channels for the continuous flow of ideas in the construction of Colombian architectural history.

De vliesgevel in the Netherlands between construction and representation. Past and present-day experiences in social housing

The crisis of the contemporary urban landscape (meant to convey cultural and social values) is evidenced by the upsurge of self-referential architectural artifacts whose ephemeral features manifest how unsuitable their project-based approach is since it tries to attain spectacular architectural shapes even when dealing with housing. This alarming trend is also present in the Netherlands, even if a relevant tradition regarding the construction of urban spaces by means of facade-prospects is present there. The lack of regard for the cultural and social values of residential collective housing is evidenced nowadays by the ephemeral facades of many Dutch quarters, where the values of traditional collective housing seem to have been lost. In this way, the all-encompassing feature of globalization gets confirmed: identical buildings appear in different cities and places. This work focuses on project-based experiences of social housing implemented in some meaningful periods in the development of Dutch housing culture. Such projects are deeply rooted in their sites, and though they do not neglect to produce buildings that meet contemporary requirements, they keep the connections, ensuring continuity with the shapes and construction traditions of the past. In particular, the features of facades - thanks to their formal and construction-related developments - clearly manifest the choice to regard the project as a well-devised blend of past, present, and future. This work relates the results of broader research regarding the urban role of residential collective buildings within the landscape of Dutch architectural culture in the early XX century.

Refactoring and Rebirth of traditional residential buildings based on the reconstruction of Yi Minority Country

The protection and renewal of traditional residential buildings help to enhance the functionality and adaptability of the buildings, pass on the traditional architectural culture, promote the sustainable development of traditional buildings, and contribute to rural revitalization. This article proposes some practical strategies for the protection and renovation of traditional residential buildings, and elaborates in detail on the long-term development of the reconstruction and renovation of traditional Yi ethnic villages’ residential buildings in Damoyu Village, Kunming City and Dabudong Village, Luoping County. It can provide methodological references for the renovation and reuse of traditional residential buildings.

Spatial characteristics and cultural factors of Yi nationality traditional dwellings based on spatial syntax

The spatial layout of traditional residential houses is closely related to national and regional characteristics and culture. The traditional village of Yi nationality is selected, and the organization structure of the outside village and the inside living space is studied through the graphical and quantitative analysis method of space syntax. The primary purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial characteristics of Yi dwellings and infer the cultural factors behind them. To explore how to integrate traditional spatial characteristics into contemporary design and promote the preservation and inheritance of architectural culture. The results show that 1) the outer village space of residential houses is characterized by weak identifiability, compact and loose organizational structure, weak permeability, and weak accessibility; 2) The interior space of dwellings presents a spatial layout with the main room and courtyard as the core as a whole. The interior space of dwellings is abundant and flexible, and the accessibility of ancillary functional space is weak. 3) The cultural causes of the formation of these spatial features include complex landforms, family systems, hierarchical systems, semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral production modes, the concept of valuing family harmony, the use of regional materials, respect for nature, fire worship, etc. 4) The spatial characteristics of traditional dwellings are inherited in contemporary dwellings. Fuzzy elements can be added in villages according to family relations, and characteristic Spaces such as courtyards and fire ponds in traditional dwellings can be preserved.