After establishing the intended use, users and the number of buildings, a real general shape of the project was started, defining the plan of the area.
To decide layout and size of the paved surface of the buildings, several factors were analysed: firstly, traditional house styles and their main features were studied to understand what could be used and what could be rethought.
Looking at the local historical architecture, they are divided in order to have
◄ Fig. 4.27
Example of the local traditional house type.
Liu House ground floor plan, section and 3d view.
Off scale
one or more courts within them; in those similar in size to that of the project site, there are three courts.
The local houses follow the rules of the traditional siheyuan, with single story pavillions arranged along the perimeter overlooking the inner courtyard; the houses are of a single floor as well as for greater ease of distribution and better access to sunlight: the belief is that living on ground floor keeps the people closer to earth, to energy qi (Zhang, 2013).
The North, East and West houses have the yaodong structure, while the South house has the dauzuo structure. The yaodong are formed by equal rectangular rooms positioned symmetrically between them; the dauzuo is a unique large space.
In this sense, the traditional houses are distinguished by some characteristic elements:
• axial and symmetrical planning principle
• enclosure of space by buildings and walls
• distinct hierarchical order
• internal courtyards
The theme of internal courts has been a fundamental element in the design, as it is a very important space in the local culture.
The court is not meant to be used frequently, but has the function of being an opening to the sky and a source of light and air. The courts are usually divided by gates and occupy between 15 and 20% of the total area.
Philosophically, the courtyards acted as link between Heaven and Earth, since the Chinese regarded Heaven and Earth as a macrocosm and the human body a microcosm to reflect the universe (Chang, 1986, in Zhang, 2013); in fact, inside the courts, looking upwards it is possible to see the celestial vault uniquely and nothing else. The courtyard is seen as the hub of a miniature society of the clan family, where the centre was the family and the ideal was the harmonious living (Despa A.M., 2015).
The conjunction between courtyards and dwellings is provided by verandas, which cover the entire internal length of the buildings; they play the role of distributive space among the pavillions, protecting at the same time from the
Fig. 4.28 ►
Project site design guidelines
Courtyard Courtyard
Courtyard
Enclosing walls
bad weather and the sun in the summer period. In the same way they act as a buffer space between dark homes and bright courtyards.
As mentioned, axiality, symmetry, enclosure and hierarchy are the basis of traditional houses design, both in plan and in height, because the symmetrical and complete form of classical Chinese courtyard houses aimed to psychologically fulfil human desire for perfection (Zhang, 2013).
To understand the meaning of “hierarchical order” instead, it is necessary to take the example of the Liu House: the entrance is in the south-east corner, then there’s a transition from the public road to the first courtyard, working as a service zone or guest area, which is semi-public; progressing, there’s the second courtyard reserved for family members and staff, which is semi-private; lastly, there’s the third courtyard that is the family area and is private.
The hierarchical order can be seen from the intended uses of the buildings: the dauzuo, facing north, is where the staff was living and the grains was stored;
then, in the wing houses people lived according to the degree of kinship: if they lived in the second or third court, depended on how close the relationship was; lastly, the Principal House, the only one facing south, is where the oldest members of the family lived. The roof of principal house and wing houses is flat, since that was used for drying the crops.
The buildings consist of “living units” formed by three rooms of 3 by 5 meters, with access from the central one, which is also the most important and representative room; it is the living room, the side rooms are the bedrooms.
All the openings face the inner courtyard, and the only door that leads to the outside is the entrance and is positioned in the living room.
For the project site, the symbolisms and characteristic elements of the local architecture were the starting point for the development of the project.
Founding elements were:
symmetry axiality hierarchical order courtyards solids/voids
Since the buildings would have been three, it was decided to place them following a hierarchical order, as in the local tradition; the more one proceeds inside, the more the buildings’ function is private: the multi-functional structure is semi-public, the hostel is semi-private, while the house is private.
Using three buildings, it seemed necessary to divide the site into three homogeneous areas, in order to guarantee a consistent amount of space for each one.
Then it was necessary to give a shape to the buildings and to understand how to place them in the project site.
Initially the classical courtyard typology of the local tradition was taken up with the verandas along the entire internal perimeter; nevertheless in this way the sun exposure of the buildings would have been too discontinuous and, above all, the building circulation would have represented a big problem: the only solution for the circulation, with the rooms placed along the perimeter,
would be to use the porches again, but this clashes with the nZEB design The concept of the projectFig. 4.26 ►
criteria, as it involves the passage from the outside to change rooms with consequent thermal stresses and heat losses; other types of arrangement, such as placing all the passages between the border wall and the rooms would have been inconvenient as a veranda would have been necessary to shade them from the sun during summer, with consequent reduction in the size of the courts and solar contributions.
Therefore the choice was to invert the concept at the base of the courtyard system: the buildings are no longer placed along the border walls but are spaced apart from them, moving towards the center, while the distribution is placed along the boundary walls; the courtyards are maintained, but instead of being narrow and stretched vertically, they are arranged horizontally along the length of the building. Thus it is possible to improve the overall distribution, the access to the buildings and their sun exposure.
To partly rethink the vision of the courts in the local culture, it was decided that they should have been a space used for most of the year, both to do something practical and to create a common space for building users.
In fact, as will be detailed in the following pages, the goal was to integrate the concept of agro-tourism and use of green spaces with the use of flat roofs and internal courtyards for having cultivable areas that can contribute to the local subsistence or can be used for activities on site, combining these concepts with the bio-climatic functions they perform.
At this point, in order to find a compromise between the dimensions of the buildings in plan and their distance from the boundary walls, it was decided that this distance should have been 2.70 meters on average, to guarantee a smooth passage and access to sunlight for all the rooms, allowing at the same time to have acceptable internal dimensions. In this way it was possible to place a row of bamboo plants along all the perimeter next to the walkways;
they help to prevent overheating of the walls in summer as well as improving the perception of the space quality.
The buildings instead, in order to have a sufficient paved surface, given the dimensions of the walkways, as well as in anticipation of an eventual ease possible re-functionalization, were designed with these dimensions:
width = 16.10 meters depth = 11.80 meters
In this way the buildings were positioned at equal distances from each other without obstructing access to solar radiation, and it was possible to place a courtyard in front of the south side of each. The building is wider than it is long for increasing the surface capturing the solar radiation and for reducing its depth; in this way the rooms are at most 4 meters deep.
The buildings are distant from each other 9.30 meters, allowing to obtain internal courtyards of about 180 m2.
The walkways have a diameter ranging from 1 meter in the narrowest points to 1.70 meters in the widest points, which is due to: the variation of the eastern perimeter wall, the presence of the shielding structure and the bamboo row.
The walkways surround the buildings also on the north side, to allow a
uniform external distribution and give access to the buildings on each of the four sides. The same applies to the private building that is located near the north perimeter wall: after the climatic analysis, which highlighted a strong prevalence of cold Siberian winds coming from the north in winter from which the buildings must be protected avoiding to make them impact directly, as they would cause problems, and considerations on the land bordering on the north side, of which it is not possible to know owner and future use, it seemed necessary to distance the last building from the border wall. In addition to these two factors, given the conformation of the buildings, having a “blind side”, as it’s not possible to put windows in the perimeter walls, it would have involved the application of skylights, which however would have entered into conflict with the use of the roof. Not to mention that the circulation would have become more inefficient.
As regards the multi-functional building, there was no need to have a building
Fig. 4.30 ►
Designed Ground Floor Plan.
Off scale
attached to the south side that faced north, like the dauzao in local buildings;
so it was decided to replace it with an open space that covered the role of courtyard and to move it away from the border wall. In this way a courtyard was created at the entrance of the site that can be used as a small market or exhibition space or common space. To increase the brightness three large openings in the entrance wall have been designed.
The project aims to create a protected internal environment thanks to the high boundary walls, isolating it from external noise, creating quiet interior spaces immersed in greenery, thanks to the courts and green roofs and the bamboo row set along all sides of the perimeter.
◄ Fig. 4.31
Designed Roof Plan.
Off scale.