Study on Courtyard Residence and Cultural Sustainability: Reading Chinese Traditional Siheyuan through Space Syntax

Abstract

The United Nations and local governments have supported a four-point sustainable development framework, including environmental responsibility, economic viability, social equity, and cultural vitality. This study is based on the theoretical framework of sustainability to study the traditional Chinese siheyuan residence. Space syntax attempts to explain how spatial structures express social or cultural significance, such as the hierarchical relationship and privacy in it. The main purposes of this study are: (1) To analyze the spatial topological layout of traditional siheyuans by using the space syntax theory, and thus deduce the cultural connotation embedded in traditional siheyuans; (2) to compare and analyze the spatial morphology and behavior patterns of traditional and modern houses; (3) to explore how to integrate courtyard features into contemporary design and promote cultural sustainability. This study expounds the concept and application of syntactic analysis, and the relationship between the syntactic attributes of specific buildings in a particular area, and the culture and life of the local people within that area. As time goes by, the spatial form of houses has changed. However, in terms of spatial allocation index, the significant difference between traditional residences and modern residences lies in the integration and equivalence of all spaces in residences. We can learn from the cultural values of traditional siheyuans, meaning “people-oriented”, to rationally design modern residences with cultural connotations.

Sinicisation and ethnicity: spatial characteristics of Shui vernacular architecture in Guizhou, Southwest China

“…Space syntax may be applied to examine how people use their living spaces. Many studies have employed space syntax in their spatial analyses of residential buildings (Choi et al 2014;Ostwald and Dawes 2013), particularly of traditional Chinese houses (Huang et al 2019). The present study utilised spatial analysis software (depthmapX, UCL) to perform visibility graph analysis and field-of-view analysis with space syntax.…”

Alterations of Historic Rural Landscape Based on the Multifunctional Approach: The Case of Coastal Fishing Villages in the Yangtze River Basin

“…Space syntax can simulate the possible effects of spatial designs on the people who occupy or move around the sites using conceptual models: visibility graph analysis (VGA), isovists, and axial maps. An isovist is a static description of the area observed at each point in space and tends to analyze the internal space of buildings [38]. VGA was developed based on isovists and provides a dynamic description [39].…”

Mahremiyet Kavramının Geleneksel Bina Tasarımına Etkisinin Karşılaştırılması: Diyarbakır ve Erzurum Konutları

“…"Graph theory" temelli bu teknik 1984 yılında Hillier ve Hanson tarafından geliştirilmiştir [16]. "Graph theory" mekan ve mantık kavramlarını nokta ve çizgilerden oluşan bir yapıyla ifade eden topoloji olarak da tanımlanabilir [17]. Bu tekniğin uygulanmasında mekanların boyut, şekil gibi fiziksel özellikleri göz ardı edilmektedir [18].…”