College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 1996 - Dell Upton - October 22
I. THE SELF IN TIME AND SPACE. Architecture as a way of mapping ourselves. The Bronze Age comes to China ca. 1600 BCE. Principles of planning and structure go back to 2d and 1st millennium BCE. Control of space and time: landscape and lineage. The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1850-1030 BCE): founders of Chinese urban civilization, one based on lineage, the will of heaven, agriculture, control of labor. Royal cemetery at Xibeigang cemetery, Anyang, Hebei Province, 11C BCE.
II. QIN SHIHUANGDI, THE FIRST EMPEROR OF CHINA. The Qin dynasty unifies China ca. 221 BCE, after triumph of emperor Qin Shihuangdi (d. 210 BCE). [1] Architecture and Identity: riverside palaces of Xianyang, near Xian, Shaanxi province; [2] Space and Identity: The Great Wall, 3C BCE and after; [3] Time and Identity: the Tomb of Qin Shihuangdi at Lintong, near Xian, Shaanxi Province, ca. 221-210 BCE. Note: pyramid and precinct, ceramic warriors (Lintong pyramid or Mt. Li, site plan; Xian, Tang precinct, plan).
(Compare to earlier Ta Ssu J'ung Ts'un Tomb at Anyng; Xibeigang tombs, plan).
III. BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES. Earth building: adobe brick and hangtu (rammed earth or pisť - Pise wall drawing). House at Anyang, ca. 14C-11C BCE. Note: rammed earth structure, form of gable and roof, platform. The walled chamber as a basic element in larger schemes. Masonry known (ex.: Anji bridge, ca. 605-615 CE, Zhao Xian, Hebei Province), but timber preferred for building structures. The column and grid system of building, in place by beginning of first millennium ce. Variants: column-beam-and-strut/tailang, column-and-tie/chuandou (Post & Beam: Wood, Tou-Kung System; Stepped roof truss). Roof forms: refinement within an established system as the key to traditional Chinese architecture and planning. Importance of the bracket set or dougong. Li Jie's Yingzao Fashi [Building Standards], 1103 CE, and the proportional system. (Perspective drawing, Mingel Pavilion; Prototypical Shang House).
IV. SPACES. Principles of planning are as early as those of structure. Ex.: complex excavated at Fengchu, Qisan, Shaanxi Province, late 2d millennium BCE. Note: screening wall, courtyard arrangement with buildings on all sides, hierarchy of buildings, platforms, axis. The courtyard house: one or more courtyard units/jin, organized along one or more axial routes or lou. The jian as the organizing unit of space. Planning and landscape: geomancy/feng shui, a codification of traditional planning principles made by Chu-hi in 13C.
V. PLANNING AND LANDSCAPE. Geomancy/feng shui, a codification of
traditional planning principles made by Chu-hi in 13C.
VI. URBANISM. Chang'an [Xian], the Tang capital, a ward-system town [note: neighborhoods, markets, outer, imperial, and palace cities]. The traditional wangcheng/ruler's city model. (Prototypical Wangcheng, or Ruler's City).
PRINCIPAL DYNASTIES MENTIONED IN THE LECTURE: Shang [ca. 1850-1030 BCE]; Qin [221-207 BCE]; Han [206 BCE -220 CE]; Tang [618-907]; Sung [960-1276]; Yuan [1271-1368]; Ming [1368-1644].