CHINESE

PHYSICAL BACKGROUND ARCHITECTURE

• AREA = 9.6 MILLION KM2

• most famous for the Great Wall of
• 33% COVERED BY MOUNTAINS
China
• MOONSOON CLIMATE
• large and extravagant temples
• MAIN RIVERS: YANGTZE RIVER
• breathtaking and detailed roofs
(CHANGJIANG)
• Forbidden City
•
YELLOW RIVER (HUANGHE)
•
GRAND CANAL

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 EARLY ARCHITECTURE

• One substantial early structure

that remains is the Great Wall,
begun in the 3d cent. B.C.
• evidence of early architectural
development is provided by
representations in Han dynasty
(202 B.C.–A.D. 220) bronze
vessels, tomb models, carvings,
and tiles.
• As a result of wars and invasions,
there are few existing buildings in
China predating the Ming dynasty
(1368–1644)

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Dynasties with significant WEI, JIN, SOUTHERN &
contributions to Architecture NORTHERN DYNASTIES
and planning

XIA, SHANG, ZHOU DYNASTIES • Development of literati garden

• Planning and drawing for the city- • Development of high-rise timber
• Imperial gardens and royal graves frame
were constructed
SUI AND TANG DYNASTIES
HAN DYNASTY • Application of bricks became
• Construction of Great Wall popular
• Multi-storied wood towers • Earliest big open shoulder arch
• Application of bricks and stone stone bridge
arches
• Roads and irrigations were
constructed
• Technique in timber structure was
developed (pillar-beam system)

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SONG DYNASTY MING AND QING DYNASTIES
Buildings were smaller but more • large scale architecture
beautiful, gorgeous and diverse, • Construction of the Forbidden City
heavily decorated • Use of architectural specifications
• Use of ancient Chinese architectural • Increased production of glazed tiles-
codes
• Formal archiectural; drawings Five main characteristics of Chinese
• Use of “cai” or building standards- architecture in this period
1. Unity of structures with architectural
YUAN DYNASTY art
• Street lane system of city planning 2. Good anti-seismic function
• Public and private garden 3. High degree of standardization
• Buddhist temples and Islamic 4. Bright colors
mosques- 5. Arrangement of buildings

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STRUCTURAL CONCEPT

• Using even numbers of column

• Top load is transferred to
foundation through wooden
frames
• Walls bear no load
• Flexible placement of walls,
windows and doors
• Gabled roofs-

PILLARS-AND-TRANSVERSE-TIE-
BEAMS (CHUANDOU)
Diagrams of framing systems from a
Song dynasty building manual
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FRAMING SYSTEM
- PILLARS & BEAMS (TAILIANG)

BEAMS

Pillars-and-beams wooden roof support system, from a building

in the Beijing area

PILLARS

Diagram of framing systems from a Song dynasty building manual

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chuandou system
- often used in the south

EXTENDED BEAMS

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CORBELLED
BRACKETS
- WEALTHY
FAMILIES
- BRACES THE
UPWARD
LIFT OFTHE HEAVY
EAVES

Corbelled brackets and drip tiles, Hall of Celestial

Piety, Forbidden City, Beijing

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- MAIN TYPES OF ROOFS:

2. MULTI-INCLINED

1. STRAIGHT INCLINED

3. SWEEPING
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BUILDING MATERIALS
ROOFS
- CLAY (COMMON MATERIAL)
- THATCH & BAMBOO (POOR PEOPLE)

Woodblock print showing how tiles are made

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MATERIALS
EARTH-used for foundation walls.
Straw, paper, oil, lime or sand were
added for strength

Construction of wall Earth was also used to make bricks

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tulou: round houses made of earth of
Hakkas Nationality

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ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
1. Systematic groupings-planning a
• BILATERAL SYMMETRY–main axis is single building around a court yard
the structure and use the court yard as basic unit
to form groups of buildings
• Secondary structures-wings
• Unique timber construction
2. Many court yards along parallel of
• Emphasis on the horizontal axis other axis
3. Free standing halls within courtyards
• Hierarchy of buildings applied or linked with other buildings with
galleries or side rooms
4. Complex planning were seen on
palaces, temples, monasteries, and
mausoleums
5. Less formal though axial arrangement
were seen in pavilions in parks and
for gardens

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 ARCHITECTURAL TYPES

Imperial architecture
features
• imperial mausoleum
- highest architectural
techniques
• imperial palaces

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 PALACES

Hall (Dian)
• referred as dadian (grand hall)
• also called zhengdian (central hall)
• symbolic supreme power of the emperor
• ridges are decorated with wenshou or zoomorphic
ornaments
• the emperor's throne At the center 15
PAVILION
(Ting)
• means also
a kiosk
• wood or
stone or
bamboo
• no walls

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• purposes of pavilion
• wayside pavilion
– - liangting (cooling kiosk)
• stele pavilion
– - protect the engraved
record of an important event
OTHER USES:
• storage of important articles
documents.

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ALTAR
(tan)
• offer sacrifices to Heaven or the gods
• terrace-like building

Ditan
Altar to the Earth

the Circular Mound Altar

Huanqiutan
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 CORRIDOR

Covered Corridor
-roofed walk with
low railings or long side
benches

CLASSIFICATIONS

youlang
• -links two or more
buildings
qulang
• -the zigzag corridor

huilang
• the winding corridor 19
hualang
• for the display of potted flowers
shuilang
• borders on lakes or goes over ponds
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PALACE DETAILS

STUDS
gates used by the emperor have 9*9 or 81 studs

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CAISSON CEILING
- zaojing, means "aquatic plants" (zao) and "well"
(jing)
- usually in the form of a sunken coffer
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Ornamental Pillar
(huabiao)
wangjungui
• looking out for the
emperor's return
• facing south

wangjunchu
• looking out for
emperor's progress
• facing north

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Nine-dragon Walls

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The offices in front, living quarters at the back; ancestors
on the left and gods on the right
Forbidden
City 25
Ancestral Temple

Altars of Land and

Grain
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Map and Details

The Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian)

- largest structure
in the Forbidden City

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Palace of Heavenly Purity

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The Imperial Garden

Hall of Imperial Peace

(Qinandian) as its center

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Chamber of Character
Cultivation (Yangxingzhai),

-a library built in the

style of a pavilion

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Potala Palace, the
famous thirteen-story
palace, It is 117.19
meters tall and 360 in
length. The inside of the
palace was built with
timber and outside was
covered with granites.
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Religious architecture
Features
Buddhist architecture
- temple, pagoda and grotto
- follows symmetric style strictly
- main buildings on the central axis

Puti Ta (Buddha,Tibet):

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PAGODA
• RELLIGIOUS PURPOSES
• USED TO HOUSE SACRED OBJECTS
• TIERED TOWER WITH MULTIPLE EAVES
• BUDDHIT PATRONS DONATED PAGODAS FOR THE
BETTERMENT OF THEIR FUTURE PROSPECTS

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Sputa in Song Yuesi Temple,
Kaifeng

• the earliest Buddhism pagoda in

China, as well as
• the only duodanary-plane pagoda
• fifteen storeys

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Taoist architecture
- palace for oblation and
sacrifice, altars,
residences and gardens

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COMMONER architecture
features
• RESIDENCES

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- HOUSES DIFFER FROM ONE
PLACE TO ANOTHER

- USUALLY FACING SOUTH

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF HOUSES

siheyuan(quadrangle)
- usually has its main or only
entrance gate built at the
southeastern corner

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 Local-style dwelling houses
in Anhui:
two storeys with roof-tips pointing
to sky.

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YINGBI (SCREEN WALL)

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LOCAL STYLE DWELLING HOUSES
IN HUIZHOU

ROUND STOREYED HOUSES IN

RAOPING, GUANGDONG PROVINCE

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tulou: round houses made of earth of
Hakkas Nationality

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BAYS
(SPACE DEFINED BY ROOF SUPPORTS}

- WOODEN FRAMEWORK
DETERMINE THE SIZE OF THE
HOUSE
- Chinese houses almost
always consist of an odd
number of bays

- DIAGRAM OF A THREE BAY

HOUSE

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COURTYARD

- FULLY ENCLOSED BY
BUILDINGS & WALLS
- NO OPENING ON THE OUTSIDE
WALLS
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 A doorway of a Beijing
courtyard house showing the
screen wall

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 - SIZES VARY DEPENDING ON THE WEALTH,
SIZE AND TASTE OF THE FAMILY
-COMPOUNDS HAD INNER COURTYARD
- BUILT ON NORTH-SOUTH AXIS

Diagram of a three-sided
courtyard house

Diagram of a FOUR-
sided courtyard house
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two-courtyard house
- new courtyards could be added creating a multi-
courtyard dwelling
- Doorways to the east or west could open into a
garden.

Diagram of a TWO-
courtyard house

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 TYPICAL TWO-COURTYARD HOUSE
PLAN
SMALL SIDE ROOMS
MAIN BLDG.
- LIVING SPACE FOR
PARENTS

EAST & WEST SIDE RMS.

INNER HALL

1ST COURTYARD

ROOMS FACING THE

MAIN ENTRANCE
REAR
TOMBS
Ming tomb- started in 1409 and
ended with the fall of the Ming
Dynasty in 1644
- 200 years tombs were built over an
area of 40 square kilometers

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- The stone archway is
decorated with designs of
clouds, waves and divine
animals.

- lined with 18 pairs

of stone human
figures and animals

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Dingling

- tomb of Emperor Wanli

- central chamber where the
sacrificial utensils ARE ON DISPLAY

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GARDENS
features
•Chinese combination of structures and man-
made landscape within natural scenery

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 CHINESE GARDENS

• China has a long tradition of garden construction, the

design of which is inevitably linked to the needs and the
wealth of those who built them. It is convenient to
consider them in three categories:
• Monastery gardens
• Imperial parks and gardens
• Private gardens, often known as "scholar" gardens
• though there are definite design influences between
gardens in each category.

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 MONASTIC GARDENS

The rock pillars are

not gravestones, but
a record of the
names of monks of
this Confucian
monastery

GREAT BRIGHTNESS TEMPLE

TEMPLE OF CONFUCIOUS
BEIJING, CHINA

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 PULE TEMPLE, CHENGDE
NORTH TEMPLE PAGODA GARDEN
SHUZOU
• the gardens tend to be
formal in design close to • The less formal gardens are for strolling,
the buildings. meditating and reading

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 • Where monasteries are sited in areas
of natural beauty, the scenery would
often be enhanced by the creation or
removal of lakes by damming or
drainage, or by judicious removal of
trees. Temples and pagodas were also
dotted through the landscape

WEST LAKE, HANGZOU

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 IMPERIAL GARDENS
Chinese Imperial gardens are in two styles:

• the large park, usually with a lake and

islands
• the smaller more intimate garden closer to
the palace buildings

The origin of imperial gardens can

be traced back 3000 years to the hunting
grounds of the Shang dynasty.

The huge garden of Shanlin Yuan

("yuan" is chinese for "garden") occupied
over 1000 km² in 100B.C.and contained COAL HILL AND THE
more than 300 palaces FORBIDDEN CITY

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 This lineage of design can be traced
through to the large parks of the Qing
dynasty such as the summer palace at
Chengde, 200 km northeast of Beijing

IMPERIAL SUMMER RETREAT,

CHENGDE
• Torso-shaped rocks are particularly
highly prized. The rock work pictured
here completely obscured a large two-
storey building - the Pavilion of Literary
Delights - which once housed an
enormous set of books believed to be
the first example of printing using
repositionable metal type. WENJIN GE ( PAVILLION OF LITERARY
DELIGHTS)
IMPERIAL SUMMER RETREAT, CHENGDE
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PART OF THED FORBIDDEN CITY,
BEIJING CHINA

QIAN LONG GARDEN,

FORBIDDEN CITY
YU HUA YUAN, FORBIDDEN
CITY

This style of eroded rock is Taihu, here see on

display in Yihe Yuan (Garden of the Preservation of
Harmony) Beijing
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 SCHOLAR GARDENS
A design theme common to most private gardens is that of personal
scholarship, whether for spiritual, moral or intellectual development.
Wounded pride could also be considered a theme since a frequent
reason for the building of a garden was that the owner had fallen from
favour within the imperial heirachy, and intended to persue a more
private life.

The design of private gardens is

touched by the Daoist principles of
wanting to be alone, of humbleness,
and the eradication of desire. The
stunning simplicity of the domestic
garden Qing teng shu shi (Green Vine
Study), Shaoxing, conveys this ideal.

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 Confucianism also had an
influence: "the wise take pleasure
in water, the kind find happiness
in a mountain." Islands of rock
surrounded by water are a
common allusion in Chinese
gardens.

Mountain Villa of Secluded Beauty,

Suzhou

No space is too narrow

to give a "window-box"
view of a small garden.

Windows of various shapes

are used to enhance a
sense of depth. 61
 Reflections add visual interest
and enhance the apparent volume
of the garden. Not only is water
used, but what at first glance
seems to be a window is, in this
case, a mirror.

The gateway, a surmountable

barrier, gives a sense of
mystery and anticipation in a
garden

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 A moongate enhances a sense of
distance as well as giving an element of
romance in Liu Yuan, Suzhou

The covered walkway or lang may allow the

visitor to view the entire garden without
getting wet when it is raining. Langs often
have windows or doorways which give
tempting glimpses through to other areas.

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CLASSIFICATION BY STRUCTURE
• LOU – multistory buildings
• Tai - terraces
• Ting – chinese pavilions
• Ge – two-story pavilions
• Ta – chinese pagodas
• Caisson – doomed or coffered ceiling
• Xuan – verandas with windows
• Xie – pavilions or houses on terraces
• Wu – rooms along roofed corridors
• Dougong – interlocking wooden brackets

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