Houses Of China

An historic look at housing in China. Illus. 24p. 8-12 yrs.

Winner of ForeWord Magazine's Architecture "Book of the Year" Award! Exquisite examples of traditional dwellings are scattered throughout modern-day China. Chinese Houses focuses on 20 well-preserved traditional Chinese homes, presenting examples from a range of rural and metropolitan areas throughout China. The photographs of each are accompanied by extensive background information and historical content. An introductory essay examines the different types of Chinese homes and provides an overview of the rich regional variety of Chinese dwelling forms. It also provides insights into little-known design concepts that emphasize the flexibility, adaptability, and versatility of traditional building forms and the work of traditional craftsmen. Richly illustrated with photographs, woodblock prints, historic images, and line drawings, Chinese Houses portrays an architectural tradition of amazing range and resilience.

"Step inside for a look at the fascinating houses of the Chinese. Stand outside, and you'll take in exteriors made with everything from stone to sand to animal hides. Whether they stand in bustling Beijing or on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, a look at the traditional residences of China will transport you to a different world and provide you with a firsthand view of Chinese life. Written by noted Chinese architects and writers, this comprehensive architectural tour presents a window into the history of Chinese culture." "In Chinese Houses hundreds of full-color photographs share space along with the diagrams and floor plans. As a whole this meticulously constructed book will open doors of understanding for anyone interested in learning more about Chinese culture."--Jacket.

China's Old Dwellings is the most comprehensive critical examination of China's folk architectural forms in any language. It and its companion volume, China's Living Houses: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation (UH Press, 1999), together form a landmark study of the environmental, historical, and social factors that influence housing forms for nearly a quarter of the world's population. Both books draw on the author's thirty years of fieldwork and extensive travel in China as well as published and unpublished material in many languages. China's Old Dwellings begins by tracing the interest in Chinese vernacular buildings in the twentieth century. Early chapters detail common and distinctive spatial components, including the interior and exterior modular spaces that are axiomatic components of most Chinese dwellings as well as conventional structural components and building materials common in Chinese construction. Later chapters examine representative housing types in the three broad cultural realms--northern, southern, and western--into which China has been divided. Knapp completes his survey with an exploration of China's old dwellings in the context of the rapid economic and social changes that are destroying so many of them.

In rural China, an informal wave of building catalysed by economic and social developments has rendered some villages unrecognisable. This building boom, taking place in a context of limited regulations, has created densities more often found in urban areas. At the same time, the rapid transformation of rural villages has generated some remarkable hybrid experiments where rural builders use generic construction methods to adapt, modify, graft, cleave and wrap traditional vernacular typologies. These typologies have existed for hundreds of years and represent an accretion of localised building knowledge and cultural identity. Where often these typologies are preserved and maintained as tourist destinations, this book looks at those instances where families transform them to account for new ways of living.0By looking closely at these transformations, 'As Found Houses' identifies innovative, informal design responses that negotiate between traditional housing forms and the changing conditions of the rural village. The book presents the intelligent and surprising solutions applied to house typologies conceived by builders in 4 regions of rural China. Using photographs, axonometric drawings and interviews with the villagers who live in these hybrid experiments, the book situates design solutions within the context of their larger human narratives, thereby challenging ossified understandings of vernacular architecture that treat historical and cultural tradition as static.0The book argues that the manifold evolution of the vernacular is part of the every-day practice of the villagers' lives, and that architecture for them is very much still a home. 'As Found Houses' is a guide to the surprising design decisions found in the domestic architecture of rural China and a resource for thinking about contemporary design.

It has been said that for the Chinese "a house is a living symbol," one endowed with meaning and the result of conscious action. China's Living Houses is the first book in any language to explore comprehensively the extraordinarily complex links among folk beliefs and household ornamentation across time, space, and social class. Well-written and copiously illustrated, it reveals dwellings as dynamic entities that express the vitality of Chinese families as each journeys through life.

Drawing on the work of scholars in anthropology, architecture, art, art history, geography, and history, this book explores and analyzes the functional, social, and symbolic attributes of Chinese dwellings. It clarifies the diverse nature of house, home, and family in China.

Featuring over 350 beautiful photographs, Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia captures the architectural heritage of a vibrant community. The multiple Chinese migrations from southeastern China to Southeast Asia have had important implications for both regions. In Southeast Asia this influence can be seen in the architecturally eclectic homes these migrants and their descendants built as they became successful; homes that combined Chinese, European and local influences, especially during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia strives not only to be an informative but also an authoritative book on the subject of hybrid architecture—filled with stunning color photographs and essays on nearly thirty well-preserved homes. An introductory essay portrays the historical circumstances that gave rise to Chinese houses overseas, and includes historic images, color photographs, paintings and line drawings. At the core of the book is a comprehensive set of stunning color photographs of nearly thirty well-preserved homes built by Chinese immigrants and their descendants in various countries of Southeast Asia. Images and drawings from southeastern China help clarify similarities and differences. For each home, extensive captions accompany the photographs and the essay supplies background information concerning the individual and family who built and resided in each house. The historical context, nature of the building, and the restoration history of the home is included. Extensive information about the symbolism implicit in the decorative elements that make up each of the homes is presented. This includes an examination of ornamental elements that are Chinese in origin as well as those decorative components that are Western. Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia has been written in a nontechnical style, accessible to lay readers who are interested in the extraordinary architectural heritage of China, much of which is only now beginning to be appreciated.