What kind of structure is a kiln architecturally? What are the obvious differences between the southern and northern architectural styles?

Kilns are generally built on the south-facing slopes, facing the sun, backed by the mountains, facing the open area, with few trees in the shade, very suitable for living. A courtyard kiln generally repair 3 holes or 5 holes, the kiln for the kiln, some divided into the front and back kiln, some 1 into 3 open, from the outside to see 4 holes to open the door to the inside you can find that they have a small tunnel-type door interoperability top semi-circular, so that the kiln will increase the space. The kiln walls are generally coated with lime, which makes the kiln look white, dry and bright. Inside the kiln, there are pots and stoves on one side of the kiln, and at one end of the kang there are stoves attached to the kang, which keep the kang warm in winter because the flue from the stoves passes through the bottom of the kang. The three walls around the kang are usually covered with patterned paper or collages, which the northern Shaanxi people call kangwaizi. They are practical decorations that prevent the bedding on the kang from rubbing against the rough walls and keep it clean. In order to beautify their rooms, many people paint on the kangwais. This is the folk art of kangwai painting, which has a long history in northern Shaanxi. The windows of kiln caves in northern Shaanxi are relatively elaborate, with four main parts: skylight, sash window, kang window, door and window, all of which are decorated with paper cuttings. According to the layout of the windows, they are beautifully and appropriately decorated. When window flowers are pasted on the outside of the window, they are brightly colored from the outside and bright and comfortable from the inside, thus creating a unique form of beauty that blends light, color and tone. The window panes are sparse, and the sunlight can freely penetrate in.

The loess, which is one to two hundred meters deep, extremely difficult to seep water, and has a strong uprightness, provides a good premise for the development of kilns. At the same time, the natural conditions such as dry climate with little rain, cold winters and less timber also create opportunities for the development and continuation of the kiln, which is warm in winter and cool in summer, very economical and does not need timber. Due to the natural environment, geomorphological features and local terroir, kilns form a variety of forms. But from the layout of the structure of the building can be divided into three forms: cliff, sunken and independent.

Shaanxi Yan'an kiln, which is interspersed with kiln-style flat-roofed houses. The kiln is an organic combination of natural scenery and life scenery, permeated with people's love and attachment to the yellow earth.

Cliffside kiln

Cliffside kiln has a mountain and along the ditch type, the kiln is often presented in a curved or zigzag arrangement, there is a harmonious and beautiful architectural art effect. If the height of the hill permits, sometimes the kiln is arranged with several layers of stairs, similar to a building.

Sunken kiln

Sunken kiln is the underground kiln, mainly in the loess plateau area - there is no hillside, ditch wall can be used in the area. The method of this kind of kiln is to dig down a square pit on the ground first, and then kiln to the four walls, forming a courtyard. People in the flat, can only see the ground courtyard treetops, not see the house.

Freestanding kiln

Freestanding kiln is a kind of sheltered soil arch houses, whether there is soil adobe arch kiln, there are also brick arch stone arch kiln. This kind of kiln does not need to rely on the mountain cliff, can be independent, without losing the advantages of the kiln. They can be single-story or built as a building. If the upper floor is also a hoop kiln that is called "kiln kiln"; if the upper floor is a wooden house is called "kiln house".

The kiln is fireproof, noise-proof, warm in winter and cool in summer, and saves land and labor, making it the perfect building form for local conditions.

Kiln Dwellings

The kiln dwellings are a very old way of living, i.e., digging horizontal caves in the loess cliff area as dwellings. Because it has the advantages of easy construction, low cost, warm in winter and cool in summer, do not destroy the ecology, do not take up good land, although there are defects in lighting and ventilation, but in the northern part of the loess area with little rain, but still for the people accustomed to the form of residence. According to the way of construction can be divided into three kinds: by the cliff kiln, flat kiln, imprisoned kiln. By the cliff kiln that is the use of natural soil wall dug out of the coupon top horizontal cave, can be single hole, can be more holes, can also be combined with the ground housing to form a courtyard; flat kiln, also known as the pit yard, cellar yard, dark Zhuangzi. That is, digging a deep pit downward on the level ground to form an artificial earth wall, and then digging kiln holes on the earth wall in all directions at the bottom of the pit, which can also be said to be a combination of vertical kiln and horizontal kiln and become a residential house. This type of kiln is popular in Henan Gongxian, Sanmenxia, Lingbao and Gansu Qingyang, Shanxi Pinglu area; imprisoned kiln for the independent kiln on the ground with masonry or adobe according to the coupon way to build, coupon on the top of the soil made into a flat-roofed room, in order to sun drying food, more popular in western Shanxi and northern Shaanxi. At present, China's kiln dwellings are roughly concentrated in five areas, namely, Jinzhong, western Henan, Longdong, northern Shaanxi, northwestern Hebei.