EXPLORING THE TOPOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF DOUGONG

Abstract

The large-span wooden construction project uses a sophisticated tenon joinery system to overcome the limitation on the size of the material. However, making a clear layout and knowledge transfer is an important issue under the complex structure. This research takes “Dougong” as an example to sort out the possible knowledge graph of Dougong. Through the geometric feature classification and the relationship between the joints, we found that the structural relationship of traditional Dougong is like the branch system of the L-system. But it has the characteristic of horizontal connections that make Dougong restrain one another more firmly. Besides a graphical representation of the complex joinery system, it can quickly visualize and adjust the type changes and therefore provide another network related to the building model. Besides computational geometry to traditional wood structure analysis and automation, we also explored two new types of Dougong from a perspective of the traditional wooden structure. So, in this research, we developed automatic digital tools for Dougong and propose new applications of Space Syntax, attempting to break through the existing limitations of Dougong.