Lingnan dwellings

1 Architectural Features of Lingnan Architecture

Most of Lingnan is located in subtropical and coastal areas, with warm winter and hot summer, long sunshine time in summer, strong solar radiation intensity, hot climate, humid air, abundant rain and frequent typhoons. Natural disasters such as typhoons and floods mostly occur in Lingnan area every year. Therefore, the internal ground of Lingnan buildings is generally higher than the external ground, and the walls are mostly built with blue bricks, stones or waterproof materials to prevent floods. The layout of houses is also relatively dense, and the roof layer is compacted and reinforced with bricks or other materials to prevent typhoon attacks, causing building damage and casualties. Wealthy families use blue bricks to build or thicken walls to achieve waterproof and windproof effects. Many areas in Lingnan are close to the coast, and ancient pirates frequently appear. Therefore, the buildings in these areas should not only have the function of sheltering from the wind and rain and satisfying people's living, but also have the defense function of resisting the invasion and theft of outsiders. For example, the watchtower in Kaiping City, Guangdong Province is a building with obvious defense function. There are many traditional and other reasons for the construction of these buildings, but the structure and design of the buildings all reflect their characteristics of preventing bandits and theft. There are 1833 watchtowers in Kaiping. Each watchtower has different styles, but there are many similarities, that is, the doors and windows are narrow, the doors and windows are made of iron, the walls are thick and the materials are solid.

Lingnan area is adjacent to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, with convenient maritime transportation, close international trade and frequent import and export commodities, and its economy has been relatively developed since ancient times. All these have created conditions for the introduction of western architectural culture. Many cities in Lingnan area, such as Guangzhou and Xiamen, have emerged the products of the integration of western architecture and Lingnan architecture, namely "foreign buildings" and "arcades". Generally, people live upstairs in these buildings, and shops are opened downstairs. Often, two rows of "arcades" are built opposite each other to form a street, forming a commercial corridor hundreds of meters or even thousands of meters long, providing excellent conditions for owners to operate and live, and creating a comfortable passage and shopping environment for customers and pedestrians. This architectural model has continued until now, spreading to towns and industries. China's modern industrial parks, professional towns, new rural construction and other residential buildings are generally similar buildings. It is the product of the fusion of western architectural culture and China architectural culture, traditional architectural culture and modern architectural culture, urban architectural culture and rural architectural culture.

2 technical style of Lingnan architecture

Lingnan buildings generally face south, which is not only conducive to ventilation and lighting in summer, but also conducive to warmth in winter. The plane is strip-shaped and many houses are combined side by side. The front is provided with an open corridor, a sun visor or an eave, which provides shade and rain protection and is convenient for users to walk. In order to prevent moisture and rain soaking, stone column foundation, high column foundation and Liang Shi are often used. There is a lot of rain in Lingnan area, and its location is complex, with mountains, water, rivers and streams. In addition, there are many people and few land, and the cultivated land resources are relatively tight. Many buildings are concentrated on hillsides and hilly forests and built in rows, forming a natural village on the hillside. Most of the houses in the village are single-story, and the roof is pyramid-shaped to shelter from the rain. In the choice of building materials, mud bricks, blue tiles or blue bricks are generally used. In order to guard against theft, some wealthy families use thick walls, the thickness of which even exceeds 1m, and tamp them with sand, mud and ash, which is very hard. In mountainous areas, in order not to occupy fertile land, most houses are built on hillsides. The plane layout of Lingnan architecture is not only strip-shaped, but also square and round. Hakka dragon house is a typical circular building, which is the most common in Meizhou, Guangdong. This kind of building is composed of multi-walled buildings, each floor is surrounded by several connected single rooms, which are made into a semicircle inward, like a half crescent. There is a flat and a pool in front of the enclosure, and the building and pond form a circular plane layout, which fully embodies the enclosure and centripetal culture of Hakka architecture. According to the report of Yangcheng Evening News in April, 2009 15, there are more than 20,000 Hakka Dragon Houses in Meizhou alone. Hakka's "Tuweizi" and "Small Castle" buildings are typical square buildings. The wall thickness of these buildings is more than 1m, and the height of buildings is more than 10m, which has a very strong defense function. The wall adopts "three-in-one soil" technology, and then the wall is blocked with sand ash to prevent rain. These closed buildings have been handed down to this day. With the progress of science and technology, many buildings have adopted new technologies and materials, but there are still many such buildings in rural areas of Lingnan mountainous area, which is the result of Hakka architectural culture inheritance. There are many rivers and long coastlines in Lingnan area, and many fishermen who make a living by fishing live on boats for a long time. With the development of society, especially after liberation, under the care and organization of the government, they built houses on the coast or river bank and moved to land. These houses are short, boat-shaped, with curved roofs. People call them "egg houses". In order to prevent typhoons and floods, these houses are all made of wood and metal plates, one for each family. The indoor layout of Lingnan architecture is flexible and varied, depending on the situation of family members. In addition to the strip layout, there is also an axisymmetric courtyard layout. This layout is similar to the quadrangle in the north, with a yard in the middle and several small families living around it. This layout is conducive to ventilation and lighting, to family communication and care, and to preventing interference and theft from outsiders.

3 Lingnan architectural ecological landscape

Lingnan area has mild climate and abundant rainfall, which is very conducive to the planting and growth of various plants. Therefore, every household in Lingnan area is surrounded by ecological landscapes such as gardens, ponds, rivers and fields. Many people believe in geomantic omen and think that a good house should be located on a gentle slope (Xuanwu, Qiansuzhakou, Zuoqinglong and Youbaihu). Therefore, a pond is often built in front of the house, and trees and bamboo are planted next to the pond, which are integrated into one, forming a natural landscape inseparable from the house. Pond is not only a part of geomantic combination, but also can be used for farmland irrigation, village fire fighting and climate regulation, which brings great vitality to the village. In summer, the cool wind blowing from the south passes through the water, wears bamboo forests and blows into the house, making the air in the house fresh and cool. Villages in the south rarely build fences, but use natural barriers surrounded by bamboo forests, especially spiny bamboo forests, as defense entities, and at the same time can block typhoons and prevent typhoons from invading houses. At the entrances and exits of villages or public places, there are often towering old trees, and some of them have land temples built next to them, and people come to worship on holidays. Next to the villagers' homes, there are generally large and small threshing floors. These threshing floors are not only places for villagers to bask in grain, but also places for villagers' activities. Every hot summer evening, men, women and children come to the threshing floor to chat and enjoy the cool, and sometimes even stay up all night. In front of some Hakka villages in Lingnan, there is an open space of several square meters for erecting masts. Whenever someone in the family gains fame, a mast about 15m long will be erected in the mast area, and the fame flag will be hung, which also constitutes a unique landscape of Hakka villages. Due to the climatic characteristics of Lingnan area, there are few barren hills and bare land. Everywhere is an evergreen green environment, and each natural village is like a garden, with fruit trees, bamboos and plantains ... The green sea is dotted with gray houses, which is very elegant. Even under the scorching sun, the room is cool, and the village is surrounded by rice fields. With the change of seasons, crops and villages set each other off and present a fascinating scene. Even with the emergence of modern industry and agriculture, high-rise buildings have appeared between villages, but the traditional ecological landscape culture is still very strong.