Sustainable “Low-Tech” Architecture–Take Traditional Residential Houses in West Hunan for Example

Abstract:

The traditional residential houses in west Hunan, China were built on principle of be in harmony with the nature, with minimal alteration to the environment and with layouts that highlights natural environment. They are made of local building materials - renewable natural resources - with natural texture and simple processing procedure that takes the lowest transportation and processing cost. The structure system of the house is pre-cast timber frame construction highly developed during Chinese architectural history. It’s safe, steady, economic, and makes use of timber resource high efficiently. These original and “low-tech” – compared with the modern “high-tech” concept – but most operational ways are the advantages of the traditional buildings that modern buildings should learn from with regard to the environment and sustainable development.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 368-373)
• Pages: 3805-3808
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.368-373.3805
• Online since: October 2011
• Authors: Ming Fang Zhong
• Keywords: Environmentally Friendly Site Plan, Pre-Cast Timber Frame Structure, Renewable Local Building Materials, Traditional Residential House

References

[1] Department of Construction of Hunan Province: The Historical Towns, Villages and Buildings in the Western Part of Hunan (China Architecture & Building Press, China 2008) (In Chinese)

[2] Liu Su: Residential Houses in West Hunan (China Architecture & Building Press, China 2008) (In Chinese).

[3] Zhong Mingfang: Characteristic Traditional Villages and Buildings in West Hunan, Central South China – The Architecture which "Grows" in Nature, Along the Great Wall Architecture and Identity in China and Mongolia, (IVA-ICRA, Austria, 2010), pp.255-260