The reason why most of the buildings with wooden structures were developed in ancient China is not because Chinese people do not know how to use stone, nor is it because of the lack of stone materials. From palace platforms and railings, to stone roads and stone arch bridges in the countryside, it can be found everywhere in the Chinese cultural circle. Find the memory of the stone.
So Why Don’t Chinese Buildings Use Wood Instead of Stone?
First, because the characteristics of ancient buildings are: simple, authentic and organic. Wooden structures can give full play to these characteristics.
Second, wood existed in large quantities in ancient times. It has the characteristics of simple materials, easy repair, strong adaptability and fast construction speed.
Third, it is too slow to build houses with stones. In ancient times, stone processing and transportation alone were protracted labor.
Chinese people who love the present world can’t afford to wait. Every change of dynasty in Chinese history is accompanied by a lot of construction work. The palace is up in a blink of an eye. It really depends on the convenience of wooden structure construction.
St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome took a full 100 years to build, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris took more than 180 years to build, and Cologne Cathedral in Germany took as long as 600 years.
What Kind of Traditional Culture does the Ancient Chinese Wooden Structure Represent?
Industrious and wise craftsmen in ancient China, in a feudal society where science and technology were relatively backward, were able to make full use of the principles of mechanics, and skillfully broke through the limitation that wooden structures were not enough to constitute major buildings with the column-net frame structure.
The Chinese design thought has achieved many architectural miracles in China, and it has also led China to embark on a design path where wooden buildings are the mainstream.
In the West, masonry materials are widely used, and the road of developing load-bearing wall masonry buildings is the mainstream.
As for the advantages and disadvantages of wooden buildings and stone buildings, it is difficult to distinguish between them.
Wooden buildings are light in structure, economical and practical, simple in technology and quick in construction.
But the shortcomings are also clear at a glance. The ability to resist “strikes” is weak, and it is not enough to resist “force majeure factors” such as earthquakes and fires.
The stone building has a magnificent appearance, is solid, and has been preserved for a long time.
The disadvantages are bulky, expensive, complicated process and long construction period.
The two different design ideas and structural styles in China and the West also make the angles and rules of appreciating Chinese and Western architecture different.
Generally speaking, people can usually observe and experience the charm and beauty of buildings from three different distances: far, middle and near.
Chinese architecture attaches great importance to the perspective effect, and most of them have a strict and harmonious overall plan, presenting a beautiful and soft outer contour line, which is different from the “box-like” shape of Western geometric figures.
In the middle distance, western buildings leave a clear and deep impression on people with their rich volume and planar composition with concave and convex changes.
Post time: Dec-19-2022