The open and adaptive tradition: Applying the concepts of open building and multi-purpose design in traditional Chinese vernacular architecture

Abstract

The concepts of Open Building and Multi-purpose Design are generally considered as the latest innovative trends in contemporary architecture in addressing the current globalization, rapidly-changing market and requirements of sustainability. However, based on extensive research on examples of surviving ancestral halls in villages, in particular on analysis of their functional programme and configurational desire, this paper attempts to demonstrate that such concepts are already inherent in Chinese traditional vernacular architecture. This hypothesis is in line with the basic essence of Chinese architecture: maximization of modular components and standard plans to suit most functions. This explains why traditional Chinese architecture appears to have been mostly in the hands of master craftsmen without the design by architects. To lead the way forward, this paper further studies the roles of Open Building and Multi-purpose Design in the current age, in particular the possible application of Indefinite Space and Flexible Programme in Adaptive Re-uses of Chinese vernacular architecture in the contemporary context.