Traditional Architectural Form Research Articles

A Tentative Approach to Mapping Street Space: A Case Study of Chinese Central Urban Districts

This paper focuses on exploring a quantitative approach to mapping street space. Characteristics of street space can hardly be described and explained using only the traditional architectural forms of street space. The difficulty arises because of the lack of relevance between these forms and people’s activities in them. This phenomenon presents a challenge to mapping methods. Expanding mapping elements is one viable and ongoing path. Which element could be an effective one and how it should be measured and mapped, are vital questions. Interface signs have been selected as the experimental elements, with an area of central Nanjing selected as the research sample. Database and statistics of interface signs and pedestrian flows have been established and inserted into the GIS (Geographical Information System) where a series of correlation analyses between basic mappings and pedestrian flows are carried out.

The Engineering Technology Index Analysis of the Low-Carbon Building

Low-carbon building is the new building types under the background of low-carbon economy. Compared with traditional architectural form, the cost and benefit of the low-carbon building have changed a lot; therefore, it is necessary to analyze the low-carbon building from the perspective of cost and benefit. This paper structured an analysis mode through the cost-effective method, and also provided a new analysis idea and approach to value the low-carbon building, so it has an important referential value for the promotion and construction of low-carbon building in the whole society.

Exploration on the Ventilation Design Strategies of Cave Dwelling Construction in Northern Part of Shaanxi Province

Cave dwelling is a traditional architectural form in the northern part of Shaanxi province. It is the product of local traditional culture and humanistic spirit, and corresponds with the requirements of energy-saving and sustainable development. This paper takes the traditional cave dwelling in the northern part of Shaanxi as the research object, and uses two kinds of methods: the analysis of the literature data and on-the-spot investigation to put forwards the traditional ventilation design strategies of cave dwelling construction in the northern part of Shaanxi province, which aims to explore the new methods of reforming traditional cave dwelling construction.

Reproduction of Traditional Architectural Form — Design of Engineering Teaching Group as an Example, Yunnan University

This paper aims to discuss design methods to reproduce traditional architectures through typology research by engineering teaching group of Yunnan University and points out that the so-called reproduction of traditional architectural form is to present its type and the architectural form created in the design must be a new form based on the corresponding realistic conditions.

Talk about the Soft Tradition in Architecture

Building with the times, the traditional architectural form obviously cannot meet the need of modern social life. After the "international style ", modern architecture has been exploring its new features of the times. In which the new regional characteristics is a topic of the times of the building, which relates to the succession of traditional architecture. This article focuses on talking about the soft traditional in Chinese and Japanese architecture and its influence over the modern architecture.

The Inheritance and Development for Wooden Roof of the Traditional House in Nyingchi, Tibet

The wooden tile is gradually replaced by color steel sheet of traditional houses roof in Nyingchi area. This technique is effectively to solve the problems due to the large rainfall in that region. However, it also causes damage to the architectural traditional features. This paper discusses the relationship the roof material and natural environment firstly. Then, put forward a more appropriate roof technique to improve waterproof and protect wooden tiles, thus to inherit the traditional architectural form.

Traditional architectural forms in market oriented Chinese cities: Place for localities or symbol of culture?

China provides a unique social-economic and political context for urban conservation and regeneration within the current trend of modernisation and globalisation. This paper investigates 4 urban regeneration projects conducted in four most internationalised historical Chinese cities from 1989 to 2005, in order to understand how traditional architectural elements are manipulated in these projects. It also examines the roles local governments, developers, designers and local residents played in these projects in the intensification process of the market oriented economy over time. The paper argues that socio-cultural sustainable regeneration of historical urban environments must make places for local people, rather than preserve certain traditional forms as cultural symbols. Tradition must evolve by the collective and traditional forms must be widely used in architectural and urban design with community involvement, in order to achieve real cultural identity and social cohesion.

THE IMPACT OF CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENTS ON ARCHITECTURAL MORPHOLOGY OF TRADITIONAL HOUSES IN UPPER EGYPT: "A CASE STUDY OF ABUL-RISH, GHARB SOHAIL, AND GHARB ASWAN VILLAGES"

“Abul-Rish – Gharb Suhail and Gharb Aswan” are the villages that represent the case study in this research. They extremely have a huge stock of traditional architectural heritage, where the architectural forms have been related to the extent of achieving different human needs. The problem of this study is the disappearance of many features of traditional architectural forms, in addition to others that have been replaced with lots of strange and odd features that are completely different to the reality of these traditional societies. Therefore, this research aims to document what is left from the features of traditional architecture forms in an attempt to preserve this huge heritage. This can be done through monitoring of the most important features and characteristics of traditional architectural forms as well as the monitoring of most important changes that happened to traditional model, and analyzing the reasons for this big change which came due to many contemporary developments such as social, cultural, and economic developments as well as the developments in building technology. The research ended up to clear vision of some operational procedures on how to deal with traditional architecture in the light of these contemporary developments (e.g. activating the role of organizations, awareness of the public via different seminars and conferences).

Synthesis between Chinese and Western Theatricalities of the Three-Tiered Stage Pleasant Sound Pavilion

The Chinese three-tiered stage Pleasant Sound Pavilion (Chàngyīn Gé 暢音閣) in the Forbidden City is the only “three-tiered stage” chόngtái sāncéng 崇臺三層 (or the “linked performance stage” lián xìtái 連戲 臺) still in existence. It was an innovation of Chinese architecture that reflected the heyday of court theater during the reign of Qianlong (1736–96). This three-tiered stage mirrored the ingenuity of the Qing court theater. How a three-tiered stage like the Pleasant Sound Pavilion was brought to life is quite interesting. It was a synthesis of highly developed traditional Chinese architectural forms and innovations of Western theater, aided by advances in science in the Qing period. However, most importantly, it stemmed from the Emperor Qianlong’s personal passion for Chinese theater. My goal is to analyze the genesis of this extant three-tiered stage and use it as a way to understand traditional Chinese architecture and its ingenuity in the reign of Qianlong, as well as to comprehend characteristics of court theater during this era.

Gothic Revival

Innovative structural engineering often goes hand in hand with cutting-edge architecture, but reviving traditional architectural forms can be equally challenging. St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, in Houston, is a classic Gothic church in appearance, but beneath the brick and cast stone of its exterior is a modern steel structure.

A lost aesthetic: traditional architectural form in wood and its neglect

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the last timber building in Glasgow's High Street was demolished. Once there had been hundreds if not thousands of such structures throughout Scotland. Even 50 years before, they were still common in the older parts of towns, their form as familiar to generations of Scots as the stone tenement is to us now. Today, in the whole of Scotland, less than a handful of much altered survivors are left, the final relics of an architectural tradition that is now almost completely lost to us. How has such a major part of the architectural heritage been virtually wiped from the consciousness of historians and public alike? The following paper charts its downfall and suggests the time has come for timber buildings to take their proper place not only in the evolution of the Scottish built environment, but also as an architectural form with as much to offer, and as much right to consideration in new designs, as any other.

The Garden of Ulysses: Ferdinand Bac, modernism and the afterlife of myth

Ferdinand Bac's three Mediterranean gardens constructed between 1913 and 1925 are more than a chapter in the history of horticultural design.1 They are the product of an existential conflict that reflects one of the central cultural dilemmas of the age for designers of all sorts as well as for writers: the problem of epigonism. How was one to create in a France where prestige of the styles of the past seemed to render innovation derisory and imitation a sterile exercise? ‘During the nineteenth century,’ wrote Bac, ‘one imitated the Past because one loved it ... but, after having imitated it quite badly one got to the point of imitating it too well ....’2 What this tendency led to at the beginning of the twentieth century on Bac's beloved Cote d'Azur, well before the mass tourism of today disfigured it even more, was a singular case of cultural incoherence. Bac's friend, Robert de la Sizeranne, complained of the insolence of speculators and rich winter residents who erected palaces and villas seemingly inspired by pastry, painted in fruit colors in the styles of Louis XIV or the Middle Ages, some of them inspired by castles on the Rhine, in England or even by Norwegian chalets. Traditional architectural forms — the provenyal ‘mas’, the Italian terrace, the Roman villa — seemed to have been banished; plants native to the region such as the oak, the lemon tree, and the parasol pine had been supplanted by exotic species such as the ubiquitous palm tree, the cactus, the ficus as well as a number of other fleshy or fuzzy varieties.3 It was clear to many in the years preceding the World War I that culture yearned for renewal. To meet the demand, came a plethora of vigorous and ill-defined movements: after Fauvism came Orphism, Futurism and a host of others. Bac did not remain insensitive to the spirit of the times and presented as revolutionary his own program for the reform of garden design. Revolution, as he understood it, however, hews close to the metaphor on which the term is based: the turning of a wheel so that what was formerly on a lower level rises to the top. Bac's revolution is a renaissance, a rebirth of the old, a renewal of ancient forms. He presents himself as a man of his time who points confidently to the future. But on what basis can a modern art be founded? Surely, according to Bac, only on the debris of the old. In this respect he places himself squarely in the wake of a host of conservative modernists. His work, very different from theirs, points out a common paradox.

A Stabilized Cuboctahedron Frame

When one quarter of the vertices and half the edges of an octet truss are removed systematically, the remaining vertices form a lattice complex known among crystallographers as the J-complex, because their spatial configuration resembles that of jackstones. The residual network corresponds to a space filling system of octahedra and cuboctahedra, having 8-valent vertices. This network has few degrees of freedom, which may be removed by means of only one pair of tension members or a single compression member in each cartesian plane. In principle, the number of such stabilizers is independent of the number of units in each plane. This frame has practical implications, as all compression and tension members lie in an orthogonal set of planes; hence it combines the features of the octet truss with traditional architectural forms.

Architektura cerkiewna na Łemkowynie w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym

РезумеЦерковна архітектура на Лемковині в меджевоєнным періоді
 Сакральный архітектонічный краєвид Лемковины значучо ся змінил в періоді меджевоєнного двадцетлітя. На місце традицийных форм пришли новы, якы навязували до історизму і модернізму. На потребы допису выділено три групы церкви. Першом є група церкви, якы зачали будувати іщы перед І світовом войном або в час єй тырваня, але скінчыли уж в меджевоєнным періоді. Другом сут церкви вознесены в місце знищеных обєктів в час воєнных діянь в 1914-1915 рр. Третю групу становлят церкви вознесены як натуральный будовляный рух. В статі коротко омовлено тіж квестиі консерваторской охороны памятників церковной архітектуры на Лемковині.

Sullivan's Skyscrapers as the Expression of Nineteenth Century Technology

(1856-1924) was the first great modern architect, the first to create a new and powerful vocabulary of forms derived from the major cultural determinants of his age. He was the most imaginative and the most articulate figure among a small group of creative men in Europe and America who, suddenly around 1890, struck out in a new direction with the deliberate intention of breaking once and for all with the traditional architectural forms of the