What are the structures and features of ancient buildings in China?

China's ancient buildings are mainly made of wood, brick and tile, with wood frame structure as the main structural mode.

Wood is widely used in ancient buildings in China, firstly because of its excellent structural performance, and it is easy to use local materials when the ancient environment has not been destroyed. Because the beam-column structure built by wood structure is an elastic frame, it also has a prominent advantage, that is, strong seismic performance. Great vibration energy can be dissipated at the nodes with strong elasticity, which is extremely beneficial to earthquake-prone China. Secondly, the five elements theory holds that wood, as one of the five elements, is a symbol of natural vitality. It bears the rain and dew in the sky, grows in the sun, grows in the shade, and is the product of the combination of yin and yang. Using this material is the most reasonable choice and the inevitable result of rationalism philosophy. The woody atmosphere of the five elements represents the spring of the four seasons. Wood gas belongs to yang and is a teenager. Man is the soul of all things, and architecture is the place where people live, that is, the hub of yin and yang. Therefore, architecture needs the spirit of heaven and earth (Taoist nature), so it is natural to choose wood as the main building material. To say cultural reasons, it is mainly because the material of wood shows the characteristics of being close to the people. In addition, the durability of wood is also just suitable for China people's psychology of not seeking eternal architecture, as Liang Sicheng said. "Buildings are like clothes." It doesn't hurt to change it often, and it doesn't hurt to burn it often-perhaps, Li said that people in China are impatient, and Mr. Liang said: I like the new and hate the old.

Wood frame structure is the main structural mode, which is composed of columns, beams, purlins and other main components, and the joints between the components are equipped with tenons and mortises to form an elastic frame. There are three different structural modes of ancient wooden structures in China: hanging beam type, cross bucket type and shaft type. Well-shaped trunk, that is, the overlapping structure of logs or squares, such as well-shaped, is the most primitive and simple structure. Now, except for mountain forest land, it is a beam-column structure, which is convenient for construction and the most earthquake-resistant. However, it is difficult to build a large-scale attic platform, so this form is mostly used in houses and smaller halls and pavilions in the south. "Lift beam type" (also called stack beam type), that is, the beam is hung on the column, the beam is installed on the column (short column), and the beam is hung on the column. The characteristic of this structural model is that it can become the main structural form used in large palaces, temples, temples, palaces, mansions and other luxurious and magnificent buildings. Some buildings also adopt the form of hanging beam and crossing bucket, which is more flexible and diverse.

Wood structure has many advantages. First, the load-bearing and envelope structure are clearly defined, the weight of the roof is borne by the wooden frame, the outer wall plays the role of shielding the sun, heat insulation and cold protection, and the inner wall plays the role of dividing the indoor space. Because the wall is not load-bearing, this structure gives the building great flexibility. Second, it is conducive to earthquake prevention and resistance. Wood frame structure is very similar to today's frame structure. Because of the characteristics of wood, the bucket arch and tenon used in the frame structure have some extensions.

Second, the layout of ancient buildings in China.

The plane layout of ancient buildings in China has a simple organization law.

It is to form a single building with the "house" as the unit, then form a courtyard with the single building as the unit, and then form various forms of groups. As far as single building is concerned, rectangular plane is the most common. In addition, there are geometric planes such as circle, square and cross. Generally speaking, most important buildings are designed in a balanced and symmetrical way, with the courtyard as the unit, along the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, and with the help of the organic nature of the building group.

The plane layout of a building is an important factor that determines the shape of a building, a building group and a building group. In ancient architecture in China, there are basically two ways of plane layout. One is majestic, neat and symmetrical, and the other is tortuous and flexible. Kyoto has emperors, palaces, temples, tombs, official halls, palaces, religious temples, temples and ancestral halls. Most of them take the former form. Its plane layout is characterized by obvious central axis, the main building is arranged on the central axis, and the supporting buildings are arranged on both sides of the central axis. This layout is clearly defined and symmetrical. The other layout, on the other hand, does not seek unity and symmetry, and is suitable for layout according to local conditions. Take landscape gardens, folk houses, mountain villages and water towns as examples. Most of them adopt this form. The layout is flexible according to the mountains and rivers, geographical environment and natural conditions. This layout principle has been used for thousands of years and has scientific theoretical basis, because it meets the needs of different natural conditions, multi-ethnic and different cultural characteristics and customs in China.

Third, the basic structure of ancient buildings in China

The foundation of a building on the ground

The pedestal is the building foundation above the ground. It is used to support buildings and make them moisture-proof and anti-corrosive. At the same time, it can make up for the grand deficiency of single building of ancient buildings in China. There are roughly four types:

1. Ordinary abutment: compacted with plain soil or lime soil or broken brick concrete, about one foot high, mostly used in small buildings.

2. Advanced abutment: it is higher than ordinary abutment, and white marble railings are often built on abutment, which is used as a secondary building in large buildings or palace buildings.

3. More advanced abutment: Xumishan, also known as King Kong. The ancient buildings in China use Mount Sumi to indicate the grade of the building. Generally made of brick or stone, with concave and convex feet and decorative patterns on them. The platform is built with white marble railings and is often used in the main hall buildings of palaces and famous temples.

4. Highest abutment: It is formed by overlapping several sumeru seats, which makes the building look more magnificent and tall. The most advanced buildings, such as the Three Great Halls of the Forbidden City and Dacheng Hall of the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province, stand on the highest abutment.

Wooden cylinder

Cylindrical wood, usually made of pine or barrel wood, is placed on a platform with stones (sometimes bronze) at the bottom. A plurality of wooden columns are used to support roof purlins and form a beam frame.

bay

The space surrounded by four wooden pillars is called a room. The number of rooms facing the building is called "width" or "width" The number of rooms deep in a building is called "depth". In ancient China, odd numbers were auspicious numbers, so most of the rooms in the plane combination were singular. And the more rooms, the higher the grade. There are eleven halls in the Supreme Harmony Hall of the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Imperial Temple Hall in Beijing.

crossbeam

That is, beam, which is the most important piece of wood supported on wooden columns to form a roof, is usually made of pine, elm or Chinese fir, and is one of the main parts of the skeleton in traditional wooden buildings in China.

Bracket bracket

It is a unique part of ancient architecture in China. The square block is called a bucket, the short bow wood is called an arch, and the long oblique wood is called an ang, which is called a bucket arch. Generally, it is placed between the stigma and forehead (also known as the stop head, commonly known as the visiting head, which is located between two eaves columns and used to support the bucket arch) and the roof, and is used to support the load-bearing beam frame and overhangs, with decorative function. It consists of bucket wood, short bow wood and long inclined wood.

roof

In ancient times, there were seven kinds of traditional roofs in China, among which double-eaved halls and double-eaved sloping hills were the highest, followed by single-eaved halls and single-eaved sloping hills.

1. Daidian roof: four slopes, one straight ridge and four oblique ridges, with slightly curved roof, also known as Sijiaping.

2. Inclined peak: it is the combination of the temple roof and the hard roof, that is, the upper part of the four-slope roof becomes a vertical triangular wall. There is a positive ridge, four vertical ridges and four ridges, so it is also called a nine-ridge roof.

3. Suspended peak: the roof has double slopes with gables protruding from both sides. There is a positive ridge and four vertical ridges on the roof, also known as peaks.

4. Hard peak: the roof has double slopes, and the gables on both sides are flush or slightly higher than the roof.

5. Pyramid roof: a circular or polygonal roof with a tapered top, without straight ridges, and several ridges intersect at the top. This type of roof is often used in pavilions and towers.

6. Rolling roof: the roof has two slopes, and there is no obvious positive ridge, that is, the joint of the front slope and the back slope is built into a ridgeless cambered surface.

Triangular building part

That is, the upper parts on both sides of the house are in the shape of mountain peaks and walls. There are also common gables, which are characterized in that the gables on both sides are higher than the roof and are stepped with the slope of the roof.

Bath well ceiling

A kind of decoration on the ceiling of traditional buildings in China, named "algae well", contains the meaning of five elements, that is, fire fighting and fire prevention with water. Generally located on the Buddha's seat in a temple or on the throne of a palace. It is a flat-topped concave part with a square, a hexagon, an octagon or a circle, on which it is carved or painted, and the common one is "Double Dragon Playing with Beads".

Fourthly, the development of ancient architecture in China.

1. Burials in the Yin and Shang Dynasties all adopted the well-stem structure. Although it was not widely adopted by later generations, it played an important role in the history of wood structure development.

2. From Shang Dynasty to the ruins of the Warring States Palace, the layout of the plane column network has been excavated, but it is often not in the horizontal direction. Based on this, it can be inferred that the roof truss structure was mainly vertical truss, which was still in use until the Han Dynasty, so vertical truss should be a widely used structural form in the early days. Later, in the Liao and Jin Dynasties, vertical trusses were occasionally used to support transverse trusses, which were improved and improved.

3. From the Western Zhou Dynasty, the bucket arch was used as a component to combine columns and beams, and then it gradually developed into a complex structural form of bucket arch and corner paving (see bucket arch).

4. At present, the earliest known records about specific structural forms are the temple structure, hall structure and cluster angle beam structure in the Architectural Style of Song Dynasty. Their characteristics are as follows:

(1) Hall structure: The whole structure is horizontally divided into three integral structural layers: column, pavement and roof, which are installed and stacked layer by layer from bottom to top. If you build a building, you only need to increase the number of columns and the number of floors (sitting horizontally). Houses with this structure are rectangular in plan. There are four types of stations, namely, golden box bottom slot and double slot.

(2) Hall structure: adopt horizontal and vertical roof truss. Each roof truss consists of several columns and beams of different lengths, which are only laid on the eaves columns. Every two roof trusses are connected by rafters, rafters, etc. The number of rooms in each house is not limited, as long as the number of roof trusses, the plane appearance of the corresponding steps, etc. , each roof truss. But it is not suitable for building multi-storey houses. It is widely used to build small-scale houses with unpaved hall structure, which is called "column-beam building". In the existing examples, there is also a form of comprehensive hall structure, such as the main hall of Fengguo Temple, which is composed of columns, beams and pavements in vertical, horizontal and vertical directions, which are intertwined to form a whole. The construction is complicated and difficult, and it has not been used since Liao and Jin Dynasties.

(3) Cluster-corner beam structure: used for buildings with a regular circle or polygon plane. The corner beam on each column head intersects with the middle beam (Leigong column) to form a circular or square conical roof.

In the official buildings of Ming and Qing dynasties, the hall structure only exists in the surface form, but it is actually a hall structure, which is called "big wood and big style" The widely used "column beam" is called "big wood small column", while the cluster corner beam is called "gathering point", which is mostly used in small pavilions. In addition, in the Yangtze River basin and the southeast and southwest regions, it is customary to use barrel-piercing frames. It is similar to the Hall structure.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) Decoration and environment of ancient buildings in China

These two parts have been marginalized by the theme of "the structure of ancient buildings", but in order to better explain the structure of ancient buildings in China, we have to say these two parts again. Therefore, I will briefly mention them here:

Decoration includes painting and sculpture. Painting has many functions such as decoration, symbol, protection and symbol. Paint pigment contains copper, which can not only prevent moisture and wind erosion, but also prevent insects and ants. Painted paintings often appear on beams and arches of internal and external eaves, indoor ceilings, algae wells and stigma. Sculpture is an important part of ancient architectural art in China, including brick carvings on walls and stone carvings on platform pillars and railings.

The ancient architecture in China pays special attention to the harmony with the surrounding natural environment. Architecture itself is the environment where people live, work, entertain and socialize. Therefore, we should not only coordinate the internal components, but also pay special attention to the coordination with the surrounding natural environment. Designers in ancient China paid great attention to the surrounding environment when designing, and made detailed investigation and study on the surrounding mountains and rivers, geographical features, climatic conditions and forest vegetation, so as to ensure the layout and form of the building.

The structure and basic structure of ancient buildings in China can only exist in ancient times. The architecture of modern society abandons the brilliant wisdom crystallization of ancestors, and is replaced by a box made of cold reinforced concrete in western society, which imprisons people in their own glass windows. In the words of Professor Liu Yuan: "In today's materialistic world, ancient buildings are drifting away from us like elite culture. It is everyone's responsibility to reread or rebuild their humanistic spirit in the depths of history. "