Beijing china courtyard house 2017 02 22

The Chinese Courtyard House

Joe Carter, February 2017

BEIJING CHINA COURTYARD HOUSE

The Chinese Courtyard House1. Design and Construction 2. Link Between Heaven and Earth3. Urban Spatial Order4. Preservation 5. The Future


Part 1 is a brief introduction at the typology and construction of the courtyard house.

Chinese Courtyard House

Now


Part 2 introduces some of the cultural, cosmological underpinnings of the Chinese courtyard house and its city setting.

Zhou Dynasty (1027-256 BC), Ideal Administrative City described in Zhou Li: Kao Gong JiChang’an, the capital city of the Tang Dynasty (612-900) was built using this concept.

Note there are 12 gates to the city

The Capital City: a link between Heaven and EarthThe Courtyard House as a Fractal of a Larger Idea

Ming Dynasty 1368 -1644 and Qing Dynasty 1644 - 1912

Beijing: a City Linking Heaven and EarthThe Emperor ruled, on behalf of heaven, from his place of power on the

sacred axis. His duties included praying for good harvests in the Temples that surround Beijing..

Emperor’s Room: Place of Honour,Power, & Stillness

Beijing Old City: 2008 Olympic Site is on the ceremonial “sacred” axis. The Olympic theme also reflects a consciousness of the link between heaven and earth.

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Temple of Heaven, Hall of Prayers for Good Harvests

Beijing Old City: Forbidden City

Emperor’s Room: Place of Honour, Power, & Stillness

Five Colours Earth Temple

Beijing Old City: Five Colours Earth Temple

Emperor’s Room: Place of Honour, Power & Stillness

Beijing Old City: Courtyard House

Patriarchs Room: Place of Honour, Power & StillnessLocation of the altar for the ancestors of the family.

Beijing Old City: Courtyard house is a “child” of the Forbidden City. A reminder of the Heaven–Earth linkage in every home.

Patriarch’s Room: Place of Honour, Power & Stillness

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Part 3 looks at the above patterns as an urban spatial order.

Large Super-Blocks for through traffic

with narrow hutongs. Traditonally

the hutongs were gated, now they are open.

Central Beijing: Traditional Large City Blocks

Block Size Comparison: Beijing-New York

Beijing Suburbs

New York

Block Sizes of some Western Cities

DrumTower

Drum Tower

Chinese City PatternThe semi-public space, belonging to a group of residential buildings,allows family activities and social interaction to occur in that space.

Residential

SPATIAL ORDER

Western City Pattern

SPATIAL ORDER

Chinese City Pattern


SPATIAL ORDER

Chinese City PatternChinese City PatternChinese City Pattern



Part 4 describes some of the efforts at preservation and regeneration in old Beijing.

Preservation Area Building Condition Analysis

Preservation Area Function Map

1. CourtyardRegenrtion Project:

Ju Er Hu Tong

2. The Hold-Out

Chiang Kai Shek

3. Former Temple

Three Examples

1. I lived in the Courtyard Renewal Project, Ju Er Hu Tong

1. Courtyard Renewal Project, Ju Er Hu Tong

1. Clay Tiles on Roofs, Courtyard Renewal Project, Ju Er Hu Tong

1. My children at our home in Courtyard Renewal Project, Ju Er Hu Tong

1. My son in front, playing the trumpet at a Local School

DrumTower

2. Location of the Hold Out, a family that refused to participate in the Ju Er HuTong Regeneration Project

DrumTower



Beijing far suburbs: Courtyard House. Same density and house type as central Beijing

1. CourtyardRegenrtion Project:

Ju Er Hu Tong

2. The Hold-Out

Chiang Kai Shek

3. Former Temple

Three Examples

3. Home of Former Temple, Now a School (1997)

Small Hu Tong Shop 1985

Small Hu Tong Shop 2012

On-line Courtyard, Bread and Breakfast

Old Courtyard House Restoration by Private Owner


Part 5 proposes that the courtyard is a deep-seated Eastern pattern, that is persisting and re-appearing - at a larger scale and higher density - in the residential compounds that are the basic building blocks of China’s recent urban explosion. It is suggested that the social scale has also expanded. The courtyard house was originally designed for the extended family; the new residential compound courtyards are for the neighbourhood, an emerging and increasingly self-managed urban territory and social unit.

CBD

Growth of Beijing: 1949-2008

32 4 5

Chicago Core and a piece of old (central) Beijing

Beijing West: Just outside 2nd Ring Road, Russian-influenced planning, 1950s

Beijing North of 2nd Ring Road, 1970s

Shanghai, 2000

Beijing West 3rd Ring Road, 2010

The average Plot Ratio (FAR) of the whole large urban block shown above is 2.1, about double the equivalent area in the Plateau Areas of Montreal (1.1) and about 6 times the

density of a Montreal suburb.

The Plot Ratio (FAR) of the area inside the red boundary (about 1.0 sq.km.) is about 1.1

The Plot Ratio (FAR) of the area inside the yellow boundary (about 1.0 sq.km.) is about 0.35

Beijing Street Network Hierarchy, Arterial Ring Road

Beijing Street Network Hierarchy, Secondary Road

Neighbourhood Boundaries and Gates




Neighbourhood Garden/Yard


Communal Neighbourhood Activity

Location of residents

shown in the previous four

images


shown in the next four

images. (Five storey wak-up

apartments)

Social Mix





Location of a Residential Courtyard Compound in Beijing (East of East Second Ring Road)

with four towers, 24 floors each. My home since 2003.

Beijing, Yang Guang Du Shi (Sun City) Residential District (2.4 h.)Big enough for Communal Neighbourhood Activity


shown in the previous four

images

Beijing, Sun City (Yang Guang Du Shi) Residential District Garden/Yard




Beijing, Yang Guang Du Shi Residential District Garden/Yard – English Corner

Streets: Hierarchy, Arterial Road

The location of the Sun City Residential Compound activity

is on the other side, at the base of, this building.

Beijing, Sun City (Yang Guang Du Shi) Residential District Preparation for the formation of a Residents Committee, the beginning of self-management

Beijing, Sun City (Yang Guang Du Shi) Residential District, first, newly-formed Residents Committee

The beginnings of neighbourhood self-management

Typical Residential Districts in China

The western city normally does not have common outdoor space assigned to a group of households.

The Barcelona Friendly Super-Block, a 400m x 400m block divided into 9 smaller blocksBefore, all traffic went everywhere.

The Barcelona Friendly Super-Block, a 400m x 400m block divided into 9 smaller blocksNow, through car traffic is diverted to the perimeter and only local traffic goes inside the 400x400m block.

The Barcelona Friendly Super-Block, a 400m x 400m block divided into 9 smaller blocksIf we add a shared garden/yard in the middle it starts to look like a Chinese urban super-block.

The Barcelona Friendly Super-Block, a 400m x 400m block divided into 9 smaller blocksA 16 hectare block is similar to a Chinese urban super-block. Each of the smaller 1.8 hectare blocks is large enough for an internal semi-private shared social space.

The Barcelona Friendly Super-Block, a 400m x 400m block divided into 9 smaller blocksIf we add common facilities such as kindergarten, infirmary, senior’s center, residents committee office, (Chinese “pei tao”) at the center we get an even stronger resemblance to a Chinese Residential Compound.

Education

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