Architectural Characteristics of Beijing Hutong Houses

The courtyard is a traditional form of housing in Beijing. Typical courtyards are made of green bricks and gray tiles, with jade steps and pillars, and the walls are made of ground bricks, with elaborate craftsmanship. They are called "siheyuan" because there are houses in the east, south, west and north directions of the building, which are enclosed together to form a courtyard.

The size of the courtyard varies greatly from big to small. But its basic architectural form is the same, are composed of the basic unit of the courtyard, the basic unit, known as a quadrangle, is surrounded by four houses in a courtyard. The four sides of the house in the north room for the main room, east and west for the compartment, the south room is called the inverted seat room. Courtyard of the main house, between the rooms, generally by the coping corridor connection, coping corridor is both for people to walk the channel, but also for people to rest place. And so on, two courtyards that is two quadrangles, three courtyards for three quadrangles, the royal residence can be as much as seven, nine courtyards. In addition to the main courtyard in the middle of the road, there are east and west on both sides of the courtyard, overlapping courtyards, the front corridor after the building, the courtyard within the courtyard, outside the courtyard has a garden, the courtyard garden, as the so-called "deep house", such as was listed as a national key cultural relics of the Prince Gong's House, the Fu County King of the House, and so on.

The courtyard is also widely used in residential areas. Among them, the Beijing courtyard house is very typical with its regular shape, while the courtyards in other regions show different characteristics due to the differences in climatic environment, the amount of land, building materials and the level of construction in each region. First of all, the central courtyard of the Beijing courtyard house is basically a square in plan, the courtyard of the courtyard houses in the area of Shanxi and Shaanxi is a longitudinal rectangle from north to south and narrow from east to west, while the courtyard of the courtyard houses in Sichuan and other places are mostly horizontal rectangles from east to west and narrow from north to south. Secondly, Beijing courtyard houses in the east, west, south and north directions are independent of each other, and the east and west compartments are not connected with the main house and the building itself, but only the corners of the corridors are connected to the houses, and the main house, compartments, and the building itself are one-story bungalows. And the courtyard in many areas of the south, the four sides of the houses are mostly buildings, and in the four corners of the courtyard, the houses are connected, east, west, south, north and four sides of the houses do not exist independently. In addition, the Beijing courtyard is a real courtyard, spacious and open, sunny, with a wide field of vision, while the southern courtyard is very small, known as the "patio".

The courtyard house has a history of more than 2,000 years in China. Its prototype was produced in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Qishan Wind Daisy of the Western Zhou architectural site is rectangular in plan, the central axis from south to north, respectively, for the doorway, the front hall, the back room, the front hall and the back room of the corridor between the two sides of the yard for the front and back of the connected compartments, the middle of the formation of two groups of courtyards, a rather neat courtyard, which is the earliest quadrangle found so far. By the Han Dynasty, the development of such quadrangle-style courtyards had become very common. Chengdu unearthed in the Eastern Han Dynasty portrait bricks on the courtyard, it is obvious to see the layout of the quadrangle style, in the Han Ming ware can also be seen in the docking style quadrangle. The Sui, Tang, and Song periods are richer in the history of quadrangle-style residences, and this form of residence can be seen in paintings, murals, and silk paintings. Typical quadrangle-style patterns can be seen in the large-scale residences in the Song Dynasty painting Wen Ji Returning to Han, and the small and medium-sized residences in Wang Ximeng's Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains.

The large-scale construction of courtyard houses in Beijing can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was the capital of Beijing, which had an epoch-making significance for the city's construction. The construction of the Yuan capital included large-scale residential buildings, and the courtyard was a basic form of residential buildings. According to the "Yuan History - Shizu Benji" records, to the Yuan 22 (1285) in February of polyoxyethylene nonyl phenyl Xu, Yuan Shizu Kublai "edict the residents of the old city to move to the capital, to the high cost and the occupational (Note: rich people and officials in the dynasty) first, still customized to the land of eight acres for a point, or land more than eight acres and the force can not be made for the room, are not to be risked according to listen to the people to make a room! "

Ming Ming Dynasty, the first to be established.

Ming Dynasty homes followed the form of the Yuan Dynasty courtyard. But the Ming Dynasty on all levels of people living in the building from the system, scale, color, all aspects of the strict provisions. Such as Hongwu twenty-six custom, officials to create houses are not allowed to break the corner of the mountain, heavy eaves, heavy chess and painted algae wells; common people's huts, but three five frames, not allowed to use the arch, decorated with color, etc..

Beijing in the Qing dynasty residential building inheritance and development of the courtyard. In particular, the palace type house development to the extreme, this courtyard in the regulation, pattern inherited the ancient palace building features, belong to the large and medium-sized courtyard, courtyard two or three heavy and even multiple, grand and luxurious. At present, the main surviving quadrangles in Beijing are those of the Qing Dynasty.

The reason why the courtyard was able to develop and perfect in Beijing and form a representative residential architecture is closely related to the natural environment and social culture of Beijing. Beijing is located in northern China, so the most important function of residential buildings is to solve the problem of cold-proofing and heat preservation in winter. North China is very windy, with cold winds coming from the northwest in winter and from the southeast in summer. The courtyard houses are located in the north and face south, with the doors opening in the south, so that they can avoid the bitter cold winds in winter, and welcome the winds to keep cool in summer. At the same time, the courtyard of Beijing courtyard house is more spacious, which is conducive to receiving more sunshine in winter and ventilation in summer. The center of the old Beijing courtyard house. Often placed one or several very large fish tanks, which is also because of the relative lack of water in Beijing, one for ornamental purposes, the second is able to regulate the air, and the third has the function of fire prevention.

Since the Yuan Dynasty large-scale construction of the metropolis began. Since the large-scale construction of the metropolis in the Yuan Dynasty, a checkerboard structure has been formed in Beijing, with streets in the north and south, and alleys in the east and west. The main function of the streets is transportation and trade, and the alleys are what we call hutongs, which are passages connecting the homes. The standard Beijing courtyard house should be a rectangular courtyard with a slightly longer north-south, north-south, south-south orientation, arranged exactly between the east-west hutongs, with the main door opening to the hutong south of the house. The influence of Confucianism on the order of seniority and inferiority is also reflected in the internal layout of the courtyard: the main house, which is in the best position in the inner house, is reserved for the lords and wives of the older generation, while the east and west compartments are inhabited by the younger generation, and the back rooms are mainly for the women who have not yet left the court or for the maids to reside in.

Privacy is also an important factor that must be considered when constructing a courtyard. Historically, the Beijing area has been a place of contention for ruling groups, and in the midst of regime change and social unrest, Beijingers chose the courtyard house as a place of peace and relaxation from the rest of the world. In addition to the main door and the outside world, generally do not open the windows, only the south room in order to light, in the ground very high place to open a small window. Therefore, as long as the door is closed, the courtyard will form a small closed environment. This relatively closed environment gives the introverted Chinese a strong sense of security.

The architectural concept and cultural connotations of the courtyard form the spirit of the courtyard. The architectural concept of the courtyard comes from the patriarchal system and architectural feng shui doctrines that have been developed in China over thousands of years.

The patriarchal system in ancient China is centered on the family, according to the bloodline of the law of proximity to differentiate between the close and the distant, embodied in the form of residence, is to gather the family to live, and then form the courtyard form of courtyard, which distinctly embodies the ancient society of the young and the old, up and down, inside and outside of the difference. Not only that, the courtyard also has the important function of maintaining the cohesion within the clan, strengthening the kinship, and reflecting the different status of clan members.

Traditional courtyard houses are built and designed according to feng shui principles. For example, the standard courtyard is north-south, into the north-south long, east-west short rectangular courtyard, and the door is open in the southeast corner of the house, these are the eight trigrams in the direction of the often said "kan house Xunmen. "Kan" is the direction of the north, accounting for water, in this direction to build a house can avoid fire. "Xun" is the southeast direction, occupying the wind position, the door is opened here in order to enter and exit smoothly and safely.

Hutongs and courtyards are the main way of living in Beijing, and an important part of Beijing culture. They typify the values and lifestyles that have been developed in the region for a long time. That is to say, they are closed, comfortable with the status quo, stoic, and value family and neighborly relations.

Traditional Beijingers are more closed, and the courtyard is a box. The ideal home for Beijingers is a "single courtyard", where the door is closed and you are immediately in a state of "sweeping the snow in front of your own door, not caring about the frost on the roof of other people's tiles"; traditional Beijingers are more comfortable with the status quo, and do not have a high demand for material things in life. Turnips, cabbages and tofu in sauce can satisfy: traditional Beijingers attach great importance to the family, the courtyard is suitable for large families to live together, even if the small courtyard can achieve the basic requirements of the three or even four generations of the same family, the hall and the courtyard is a place for family gatherings; traditional Beijingers attach great importance to the relationship between neighbors, pay attention to the "distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors", therefore In traditional Beijing, people attached great importance to neighborly relations, and therefore had to pay a little "share" for weddings and funerals, to express their joy or annoyance.

Today, we protect the courtyard as a cultural heritage, not only to protect its shape, but more importantly to continue and develop the cultural connotation and architectural concepts of the quadrangle of the essence of the worthy of carrying forward and inheritance. Although the patriarchal system that dominated China for thousands of years completely collapsed after the middle of the 20th century, and architectural feng shui has also been replaced by the integration of modern technology. However, some excellent living concepts such as "Harmonious Habitat" and "Healthy Habitat" embodied in this kind of architecture still need to be inherited and carried forward.

The concepts of orderliness of the elders and children, and the maintenance of family ties, which are promoted by the courtyard, can be taken as the basis of the concept of harmonious living in modern society, and be carried forward and developed. Today, with the continuous improvement of living conditions, people are living in high-rise buildings, and these reinforced concrete jungle seems cold and lack of affection, not only the lack of communication between neighbors, the relationship between the family members a little far away from the lack of cohesion, in the face of such a situation, people in the bottom of their hearts is the hope that there is a place of easy communication.

From a positive sense, the courtyard deliberately pay attention to the feng shui, but also happens to imply a harmonious relationship between man and nature, is conducive to creating a healthy living environment. In the past, most courtyards were owned by a single family, and large families could create a quiet and elegant atmosphere for the whole compound with refined hanging doors, newly created gardens, and rockery ponds. Smaller families would also put up a canopy in the courtyard and plant some loofahs, grapes, and some auspicious flowers and plants, so the previous generation used the phrase "canopy, fishbowl, pomegranate tree, sir, fat dog, fat girl" to describe this kind of cozy life.

Although the courtyard is a very livable form of housing, but in today's Beijing, due to the large number of people and little land, large-scale construction of courtyard-style housing is no longer possible, but some architects are still hard to let go of the courtyard complex, so in the modern architecture, still incorporated some symbols and concepts of the courtyard. One form of borrowing symbols from the courtyard is the sky courtyard. Beijing has already seen a few properties designed with sky courtyards, such as SOHO Modern City located on the extension line of Chang'an Street, Pangu Daguan located at the edge of the Olympic Village, and Howell Garden located at the south of Hepingxi Street in the North Third Ring Road. Another form of borrowing the symbol of courtyard is the inner courtyard villa. The inner courtyard villa is different from the Western-style villa and the traditional courtyard, mainly adopting the characteristics of the courtyard house outside and the courtyard inside in the design of the modern villa, which makes this kind of villa more introverted and more private. For example, the house types of Beijing Yi County include some flat quadrangles, detached triplexes and duplex triplexes with courtyard as the space, and the doors and windows are designed with square windows. The Purple Lodge adopts a Chinese-style appearance, with the second and third floors designed with a retired terrace to enhance the privacy of the occupants, and sunken courtyards. In addition to the above luxury housing, the architectural concept of the courtyard is also reflected in some ordinary homes． For example, some multi-storey buildings using the enclosed planning and layout, the center of the enclosure into a courtyard type of public **** space, which can be used by residents in which leisure and communication, etc..

So, for the courtyard of this cultural heritage to protect and innovate and to protect the existing physical building, that is, the shape of the courtyard, at the same time to develop the courtyard of God, the courtyard embodied in the excellent concept of living to be utilized to create more adaptable to the modern life of the Chinese style housing.