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CONTEXT<\/b><\/h2>\n
In the contemporary stage of globalization, when the\u00a0 interaction between different regions is becoming\u00a0 obstacle-free, the diversity of different regions is disappearing. In terms of architecture, the cities are looking more and more similar because of the implementation of international style, so as the rural areas in the process of rapid and unmindful urbanization.<\/p>\n
In many of China’s rural areas and rural-urban fringe zones, there exist various types of vernacular architecture, including Siheyuan courtyard houses in Beijing, cave dwellings in the Loess Plateau area, round-shaped Hakka Tulou in Fujian Province as well as the stilt houses in the southwest part of China. Unfortunately, most of these vernacular architectures are dying under the impact of globalization and urbanization.<\/p>\n
In China, the impact on vernacular architectures happens both top-down<\/strong> and bottom-up<\/strong>. Top-down, in order to develop economy (which is considered as one of the main task in the current situation of China), when the government is making decisions, the conservation of vernacular architectures is sacrificed. One of the typical cases is the Three Gorges Project<\/strong>. To free the area for reservoir, over one million residents moved out from their homeland of generations and most of the vernacular architectures were abandoned. Although some of the buildings in the historical villages were moved out and reconstructed in a new site, and promoted as eco-tourist attractions, the geographical and social contexts of them were permanently lost.<\/strong> Bottom-up, as the life pattern of the residents are changed in the urbanized environment, the vernacular houses are also abandoned. A great number of rural residents leave the agrarian villages and make a living in the city. After they get enough money from the city, some of them have to come back to the village (mostly due to the hukou<\/i> system in China). Usually, when they are back to the village, they will spend the money on improving their living environment by building a new house. Influenced by their experiences in the city, the materials, construction methods and style of the new houses are all directly borrowed from the city where they regarded as advanced.<\/strong> That is the reason why there are always newly built brick and concrete boxy buildings in the rural area.<\/p>\n In general, there are currently two types of status of vernacular architecture in China’s rural areas and rural-urban fringe zones. One is being mandatorily and superficially kept as eco-tourist attractions, the other is being replaced by “modern” universal-style houses. Obviously, neither of the two status is keeping vernacular architecture truly alive and active, the consequences are not only the lose of diversity and identity in culture, but also unnecessary costs and damages in relation to the environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The key ideas are opposed to both of the two directions mentioned above, standing on the position of “critical regionalism”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n On the one hand, being critical to the international style and universality, the thesis is emphasizing on keeping the\u00a0diversity and strengthen the identity. The related approaches will focus on the relationship with the natural environment<\/strong>, the use of local material<\/strong>, the traditional way of construction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n On the other hand, being critical to the superficial and formalism approaches of copying and faking the vernacular appearance, the thesis will also be work on the new requirements of modern life(both in function and performance) that the vernacular building failed to fulfill, and possible ways of enhancing the material and construction method with the aid of contemporary knowledge. Aiming at generating prototypes<\/strong> out of the vernacular samples, that can be applied to the regions with similar environmental, economical,\u00a0social and cultural conditions.<\/p>\n Chongqing is the youngest and largest municipality in China directly controlled by the central government. Being municipality since 1997, Chongqing has been developing rapidly, taking the lead of the whole west region development program in China. Meanwhile, the rapid development are causing radical problems in regard to the vernacular architectures in Chongqing.\u00a0The most typical vernacular building in Chongqing is called Diaojiaolou, belonging to the stilt house type<\/strong> which is widely distributed in South China. Adapted to the hilly topography, the stilt houses in Chongqing are\u00a0usually built against the cliff. And in order to efficiently make spaces out of the structure,\u00a0most of them are built into clusters instead of individual units, and have multiple floors.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, in today’s city areas of Chongqing, almost\u00a0all of\u00a0the Diaojiaolou have been demolished and replaced by either contemporary high-rise residences or archaized tourist and commercial complex. The remaining ones are mostly located\u00a0in the south-east\u00a0rural area<\/strong> where the Tujia people inhabit. However, in some of the villages\u00a0(such as Gongtanzhen, Honganzhen, Baishazhen, etc.),\u00a0the Diaojiaolou is\u00a0under the threaten of excessive\u00a0tourism development.<\/p>\n Thus, the researches and experiments will be carried out\u00a0on one of Chongqing’s Diaojiaolou villages, intending to work out a fresh architectural\u00a0prototype<\/strong> out of the traditional Diaojiaolou as an alternative<\/strong> to the universal model and the\u00a0archaized buildings\u00a0for the further development of the village, and even the city area with similar regional characteristics.<\/p>\nKEY IDEAS<\/b><\/h2>\n
INTENDED <\/b>SITE &<\/b>\u00a0PROJECT<\/b><\/h2>\n
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