Chinese Architecture and Metaphor: Song Culture in the "Yingzao Fashi" Building Manual by Jiren Feng

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-247
Author(s):  
Wei-Cheng Lin
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Architecture ◽  
Yingzao Fashi

Building Materials of Chinese Architecture

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinghua Guo
Keyword(s):  
Building Materials ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Construction Technology ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Chinese Architecture ◽  
Mud Bricks ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Yingzao Fashi

This bibliography is a summation of our present knowledge of building materials used in China from prehistoric (c. 3000 bce) to premodern times (18th century). Earth, timber, stone, bricks, and tiles are the major materials developed with construction purposes. Earth and wood rendered as tu-mu are a synonym for construction work used throughout the history. In the case of earth, for example, it was used to build not only architecture but also infrastructure (such as city walls) with different techniques (e.g., direct molding and cob, rammed earth with framework and adobe [mud bricks]). China is well known for its long tradition of historical documentation; however building materials in early imperial times were only occasionally mentioned in literature, and their manufacture details were recorded in a few documents. The oldest written source in existence is the Yingzao Fashi (1103). A large number of historic buildings survived from the Ming-Qing times are timber-framed. Therefore, timber architecture has been studied more intensely than the others. And, scholarly attention has put more on the later period of Chinese architecture. Critical study of Chinese architecture did not begin until the 20th century. In the field of building materials, the academic work was scarce. Obviously, the study overlaps with a number of fields: construction, technology, architecture, and archaeology. Within the topic, this bibliography is organized in five categories: timber, stone and earth, bricks and tiles, mortars, coating and painting. Timber includes various prefabricated elements and units, such as columns, beams and block-bracket sets (dou-gong). Over time, Chinese timber architecture developed into a modular design and building standard as a system. Wooden buildings require coatings for weather proofing, which led to application of decorative coatings and paints. Drainage and waterproofing had been major issues for buildings and structures, which resulted in the development from adobe to bricks and tiles. Each section reviews main issues and lists recent scholarly contributions, as well as important database sources.

Reconstituting Chinese Building Tradition: The Yingzao fashi in the Early Twentieth Century

2003 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Shiqiao
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Architectural History ◽  
Chinese Architecture ◽  
Northern Song Dynasty ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
Chinese Scholars ◽  
Yingzao Fashi

In this paper, I analyze several early-twentieth-century attempts to reprint, edit, and annotate a Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) construction manual, the Yingzao fashi (1103), each one revealing an aspect of the project to define Chinese architecture. As manifested in the research on the Yingzao fashi by a number of Chinese scholars and architects, the project to reconstitute and understand the text was closely connected to broader intellectual issues in early-twentieth-century China: nationalism, philological scholarship, and modern historiography. The Yingzao fashi was rediscovered in 1919 by politician and scholar Zhu Qiqian, who saw it as an important text that provided crucial knowledge of the tradition of Chinese architecture. It also became a central document in the construction of a modern Chinese architectural history by Liang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin, and Liu Dunzhen, which was founded on a historiography strongly influenced by the European Enlightenment tradition. Interest in the Yingzao fashi declined in the latter half of the twentieth century due to a Communist cultural policy germinated at Yan'an in the 1940s. The reappearance of the Yingzao fashi in the early twentieth century played a much broader intellectual role than the book originally had as a manual of construction and administration.

scholarly journals Jørn Utzon's synthesis of Chinese and Japanese architecture in the design for Bagsværd Church

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Yu Chiu ◽  
Philip Goad ◽  
Peter Myers ◽  
Nur Yıldız Kılınçer
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Practices ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
Chinese Architecture ◽  
Critical Regionalism ◽  
Building Culture ◽  
Church Design ◽  
Yingzao Fashi ◽  
Japanese Architecture ◽  
Art And Architecture

In his essay of 1983, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, Kenneth Frampton referred to the Bagsværd Church as a primary exemplar, briefly citing the architect's representation of ‘the Chinese pagoda roof’ in this project, to emphasise the importance of crosscultural inspiration in the creation of ‘critical regionalism’. Peter Myers followed Frampton in his 1993 ‘Une histoire inachevée’, arguing for the significant role that Chinese architecture played as a source for Utzon's Bagsværd Church design and further variations on the theme of Chinese and Japanese exemplars on Utzon's work follows. Françoise Fromonot established the importance of the 1925 edition of the Yingzao-fashi (State Building Standard, first published in 1103 ad) and Johannes Prip-Møller's 1937 Chinese Buddhist Monasteries for Utzon; Philip Drew pointed out the significance of the work of Chinese writer Lin Yutang (1895–1976) and historian Osvald Sirén (1879–1966) as important channels through which Utzon perceived East Asian art and architecture; while in 2002, Richard Weston suggested Das Japanische Wohnhaus (1935), written by Japanese architect Tetsuro Yoshida (1894–1956), as a formational influence in Utzon's early perception of Japanese building culture. However, none of these works attempt to clarify the precise role that Chinese and Japanese precedents play in Utzon's architectural career. Two more recent studies, by Philip Goad and Michael Asgaard Andersen, have confirmed the role of Chinese architecture in Utzon's church design and have introduced new evidence and details, but there are still unanswered questions about the exact nature of these influences. This article attempts to address the detailed process of Utzon's cross-cultural practices for his design of the Bagsværd Church in order to reveal how Utzon interpreted specific ideas, ideals, and artefacts from East Asian building culture.

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