Innovative Application of Traditional Chinese Cultural Symbols in Contemporary Architecture

Abstract

Traditional Chinese culture, with its distinctive nationality and regionalism, is a valuable source of creative elements for Chinese architecture, and also an effective weapon to cope with the impact of “internationalization” and “standardization”. In this paper, traditional cultural elements are symbolically categorized, dissected and innovated through architectural semiotics to explore the characteristics and application significance of traditional cultural symbols in contemporary architectural design. Moreover, case studies are conducted to derive the correct expression of traditional Chinese culture in contemporary architectural design, with a view to finding out a universal path for applying traditional cultural symbols in architecture.