Revisiting Peach Blossom Spring Pilot Thesis
An essay submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Philosophy examination in Environmental Design in Architecture (Option B) 2012-2014 Ran Xiao | St. Edmund’s College | University of Cambridge Submission Date: 23April 2013 | Word Count: 4200
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Contents
Introduction Area of Interest Urbanisation and Transformation Developments of Nongjiale Productive Landscape Historic Precedents in Landscape Paintings Composition of Landscape Outstanding Issues References
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Introduction
This pilot thesis chooses a rural site at Caopandi, Yingshan County of Hubei Province. It is a village in a mountainous region in China. Caopandi, as many other regions of rural China, has been populated by a rural society through centuries of farming. Extensive terrace fields built into the mountains have supported the growth of population in history. Since the government of People’s Republic of China founded in 1949, the region has seen a collective effort in modernisation of agricultural infrastructure, particularly of irrigation and hydro-electricity, guided by a communist, and later Maoist ideology. The natural landscape of mountains and valleys has been transformed into a productive landscape of dams, viaducts and terrace fields. In 1979, China adopted a market economy, which meant a freer flow of labour. Rural workers were permitted to travel to work in the cities. Since then, industries have drawn rural workers into the large urban areas every year. The rural region of Caopandi experienced a drain in working population. The economic priorities of households shifted from agricultural produce to work in urban areas. Agricultural production has shrunk in scale, and has shifted from staple crops to cash crops and other niche products such as Chinese medicinal herbs. Rural tourism has grown in rural regions in proximity to urban areas in recent years. The Dabie Mountains, boasting several National Forrest Parks and sites of communist military campaigns, have become a destination for leisure travel for a growing middle class in the wider region. The location of Caopandi, inbetween two National Forest Parks, offers an opportunity to develop a tourism industry locally. The local authorities promoted rural tourism as a family-run business model. Some local families invested in building guesthouses. However, as tourists arrive in Caopandi, expecting idyllic countryside, they faced a landscape of an incongruent medley of poor infrastructure, Maoist hydroelectric dam, terrace fields and self-built concrete-frame guesthouses decorated with ceramic tiles and stucco columns. The productive landscape of Caopandi needs to transform itself into a leisure landscape to meet the expectation of a growing middle class. Precedents can be found but in a more distant past in Chinese landscape paintings, in which an antique tradition of hermitage has been well recorded. A typology study in Chinese landscape paintings explains the various spatial construct of leisure in rural landscape. The precise composition of view is important in Chinese landscape paintings, and is especially enlightening in the context of Caopandi. Chinese landscape paintings are idealised versions of nature and agriculture, the views in which are carefully selected and composed. It shed light on an alternative way of transforming landscape. The pilot design project of a guesthouse focuses on composition of idyllic views.
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Area of Interest
Dabie Mountains are a major mountain range located in central China, to the Northeast of Jianghan Plains. The mountains run northwest-to-southeast, forming the main watershed between Huai and Yangtze rivers. The area of interest, Caopandi, is in Yingshan County, Hubei Province, bordering Anhui Province, just south of the watershed. Caopandi is a village consisted of a series of settlements that scatter along river valleys.
China Hubei Province
Hubei Province City of Wuhan
Dabie Mountains Yangtze River
Dabie Mountains Yingshan County
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The region is of a humid subtropical climate. As a result, the abundance of water makes the corridors of the valley fertile farming lands. Terraced fields were built into lower part of the mountains to provide additional farmland for growing population. Chinese anthropologist, Fei Xiaotong observed that in an area of limited arable land, new families of younger sons with no inherited land usually have to leave their ancestoral home, and to find and cultivate new land to support themselves.1 In Caopandi, this is evident in the naming of places. Fertile lands along the valley are usually named after well-established families, on which a closely built village of that family is built, while many terraced fields are sites of a mixture of families of different names. As a result, dwellings concentrates near fertile grounds along the valley, and becomes more scattered into the mountains. 1 Xiaotong Fei, Earthbound China; a study of rural economy in Yunnan (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1949)
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Village Centre
The village centre is at the confluence of two rivers, established by trading routes possibly. Despite of its main streets of shops, offices and workshops, most of the land is still agricultural. A large mountain forms a powerful boundary to the Northwest. A small hill, carved almost completely into terrace fields, lies in the South. The streets are increasingly populated with motorcycles, cars and lorries. Vehicles are becoming an essential part of life in the village, saving time of transport from scattered dwellings to destinations such as schools, shops and markets in the village centre.
River from Reservoir
Fields Mountain Range Town Centre
Bird
’s Ey e Vie
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Bird
’s Ey e Vi
ew
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Streetscape Overhead Cables Unpruned Trees
Loading Lorry
Pedestrian
Main Street
Mot
Taxis Station
Billboards
Shop Storage
Living Space
Ground floor shops
torcycles
Waste Bins
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East River Valley
The narrow plains along the river are extensively farmed. In addition, the valley landscape in the region is characterised by enclaves of terraced fields at the lower parts of the mountain. The terrace fields expanded to cover the less steep parts of the mountains until they reach the ridges of the mountains. The valley suffers from flooding frequently in monsoon seasons. It is intensified by water runoff from farming on the terrace fields. The local authorities adopted a ‘farmland to forest replacement’ policy in 2002, which sets to preserve water and earth runoff in the region. It encourages steep terrace fields to be replaced by manned forest with a financial subsidy and technical assistant. The priority of action is set to areas with a slope angle above 25 degrees. The policy will potentially transform part of the terrace fields into woodland. Transition from a farming economy is more substantial in the wider context in urbanisation and economic development in China It may imply far more substantial change in the landscape of Caopandi.
Ginkgo Bay Bay of Hu Family
East River
Lower Mansion Bay
Bay of Hai Family
Upper Mansion Bay
Bay of Hydroelectric Zhang Family Station
Celery Bay
Maple Bay
To Honghua Reservoir
Priority Line of Forest replacement
ss ro Ac ey ew all Vi e V th
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ss ro Ac ey ew all Vi e V th
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Mountain Ridges as Boundaries
Indigenous Trees
Tea Plantation
Rice Nursery Fields
Newly Planted Pine Trees
Overgrown Weeds on Retension Walls
Terrace Fields Retention Stone Walls
Mountain Ridges as Boundaries
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Family farm
The typical family farm is of a modest size in the region. Households build their houses on residential plots. Each family works on state-leased farmland with an average size of 0.3 acres. The lease usually covers a piece of land near the river, a piece on the terraces usually detached from the residential plot. The distribution is to guarantee that each family has equitable farmland per capita, in terms of size and fertility. A typical family farm has a farmyard, a vegetable garden, and farm animal sheds.
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Pond
Front Yard
Vegetable Garden
Pigsty
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Ginkgo Tree and Front Yard
Non-attached Field on the riverside Pigsty
Shed and Vegetable Garden Rice Nursing Field
Pond
Family House of Three Generations
Orchards and Tea Plantations
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Architecture of farmhouses
Income
Architecture of self-built family houses in the region has changed with time and increase in income. It also reflects the availability of industrial materials and building technology. The examples of vernacular architecture are single storey long houses constructed in mud bricks on foundations of local stone. They are usually inserted with timber door frames and covered by terracotta roof supported on a timber structure. More recent houses were built with a reinforced concrete frame and concrete bricks, some of which are sourced from small local factories. In general, the buildings have become taller to maximise space on limited housing plot. The vertical expansion was enabled by the use of reinforced concrete frame, which was introduced by migrant workers who worked on building sites in urban areas. They have become more decorative, with stucco mouldings and pillars, window moulding and cornices. The walls were clad in glazed ceramic to achieve a clean white look. The roof claddings were also made from glazed ceramic. All building material are sourced locally.
g
an
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g din
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Time 31 42
Volume
Ornament
Three-storey ‘Cubical’ Volume
Stucco Mouldings and Pillars
Single-storey Long Volume
Ambiguous Ornamental Details in Construction (Embrasure)
Programme
Structure
0
Reinforced Concrete Post and Frame Structure Pre-defined, Static Programme
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Additive, Growing Programme
Parallel Wall Masonry Structure with Timber Roof
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Ceramic Roof Tiles
Texture
Terracotta Tiles
Sun-dried Earth Brick
Baked Earth Brick
Carved Rock
Rough, Tactile, Primitive Texture
Ceramic Wall Tiles
Cement Wall Finish
Smooth, Precise, Modern Texture
The change in the architecture of farmhouses was prompted by necessities. They were aspirational houses for local families. They are built in the past two decades by a generation born between 1960s and 1980s when birth rate were at its peak in China. Recently family houses built with ‘modern’ technology and materials offers sanitary facilities, better resistance to earthquakes, more light and crucially more space. Most of new built houses replace old houses on restricted housing plots assigned to each family.
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Urbanisation and Transformation
Urbanisation accompanied the economic development in China in the past decades. The urbanised population have steadily risen partly due to rural population immigrate to expanding urban areas. Statistics shows that, by 2011, 51.3% of Chinese population resides permanently in urban areas, a big increase from under 30% in 1995 (Source: UN Population Divison). Apart from immigration, migrant workers who spent most of the year working in urban areas are not accounted for in urbanised population in the above statistics. By the end of 2010, it is estimated that there are 242 million migrant workers in China, accounting for about one third of the rural workforce.1 The combined migration and immigration gives an overall picture of population drain in China. The Dabie Mountains locates between two of the biggest urban centres in China, City of Wuhan to the Southwest, and the Yangtze Delta Metropolitan Area, which includes Shanghai and Hangzhou to the East. Both urban centres are within 4 hours travel distance. The typical wages of migrant workers in urban areas are several times higher than those of rural worker in the region. Therefore, there is strong economic incentive for rural workers to seek work in urban areas. A small sample survey in a cluster of households illustrates the population drain in the region. Most households have one or more migrant workers. Many households also have children attending secondary school in nearby towns. Secondary schools provide boarding for children who live outside the towns. The households benefit from remittance of migrant working members of the family. Households can afford to decrease labour input into farming. On average, a household has 0.3 acre of arable land. The small scale and topography of farmlands in the region make labour intensive staple crops uneconomical. Rice, a staple crop, is replaced with cash crops in many instances. For example, tea, a popular cash crop in the region, requires only plucking and trimming a few times a year. Most of the labour need for tea growing falls in the springtime of the year, when migrant workers return home for the Chinese New Year. Farming has become less important in household income in the region.
1 State Council, 中国农民工调研报告 (Research report on Chinese migrant workers), , (Beijing: Shiyan Chubanshe, 2006) p. 3
Yangtze Delta Wuhan
2013 Urbanised Population of China: 697 million Wuhan Metropolis Population: 9.7 million
Yangtze Delta Wuhan
2025 Projected(Source: McKinsey Global Institue) Urbanised Population of China: 926 million Wuhan Metropolis Population: 11.84
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Household
People
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Overall
5 5 6 5 8 6 5 5 4 5 3 5 8 70
Non migrant worker (including Children at boarding children at boarding school) school 4 2 5 2 4 1 3 1 2 8 0 (immigrated to town) 1 3 3 1 2 1 2 1 3 2 2 1 5 2 41 17
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Dabie Mo
S5 Exp
ressw ay
City of Wuhan
Jianghan Plains
Yangtze R
iver
National Forrest Park
National Forrest Park
sR
ountains
s ce c A nt rre
Cu
e
te ou
er
ad
Ro
d un
d ra g p
U
hui Province
to Hefei, An
Meanwhile, income of urban residents in China has risen with the economic development. In the city of Wuhan, the annual average disposable income has increased to 27,060RMB by 2012, a 30% increase from 2010. (Source: Wuhan Statistics Bureau) The growing middle class in urban areas has an increasing need in leisure and tourism. Rural tourism is a significant part of domestic tourism. A survey conducted by China Naitonal Tourism Authorities in 2007 shows that 70% of urban residents nationwide opting to take rural tourism for the outing choice, during the national holidays. Situated 2 hours away from the City of Wuhan, Caopandi has access to a growing tourism market. Local authorities encouraged developments of Nongjiale, or farmer’s guesthouses, invested and ran by local households.
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Developments of Nongjiale
Nongjiale is a type of rural tourism originated in the rural areas around the Southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. It becomes increasingly popular in many regions in China since late 1990s. It directly translates as ‘happy life at a countryside family’. Nongjiale is usually a small scale family run business, featuring local food and specialties, rural experiences such as fishing, pick-yourself in orchards and tea plucking. It also offers general accommodation and activity space. In many instances, Nongjiale proved to be a viable source of income for rural households, especially for those with good transport links to metropolitan areas. Nongjiale has only recently grew in Caopandi, due to historically poor connection from Caopandi to the wider region. However, the recently completed S5 expressway and a new connecting road in construction have promised a 2-hour travel time from the city of Wuhan. Local families invested in Nongjiale building along a new road in construction that runs along the East River. The guesthouses are expected to become popular after the roadwork completes. However, the developments appear to be poorly sited close to the road. The self-built houses do not particularly appeal aesthetically. It seems that the developments lack a good understanding of the need of the urban clientele. Business researchers warned that Nongjiale as a business model lacks long term growth potential, as they are too generic in their offerings.1 Although larger developments of hospitality and leisure have been built in the region within the national forest park, Caopandi lacks the same appeal for investors. The roadside development is therefore encouraged by local authorities, who offered plots of land alongside the new road in leases. Yingshan County is one of the poorest counties in China, its towns and villages do not have a planning framework for development on village level. The developments of Nongjiale in Caopandi, with its imposing volume and dusty roadside location, seem on the contrary to idyllic villages that appeal to urban people. One could speculate that, without intervention, Caopandi would only attract the lower end of the market, and could face fierce competition from the wider region. 1 Huimin Gu and Raphael R. Kavanaugh, ‘A critique of market analysis for suburban tourism in Beijing, China’ Journal of Vacation Marketing, 1(2006), 27-39, p35.
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to enable sustainable growth in leisure, tourism and niche agriculture industries.
Alternative Development Framwork of Nongjiale
A potential way of enabling better Nongjiale developments is to realign ownership of land. Conventional method of distribution of land is based on fairness in land value for agricultural use. It resulted in a fragmentation of land owernership. The roadside guesthouses are detached from agricultural land, thus detached from potential leisure activities that derive from it. The realignment of ownership aims to join fragments of farmland owned by a single family into a whole piece of land. It will potentially encourage developments in single family farms or guesthouses that incorporate agricultural uses. It can provide a new type of Nongjiale characterised by organic farming and sustainable tourism.
REVISITING PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING RURAL REGENERATION IN DABIE MOUNTAINS IN CENTRAL CHINA
DESIGN BRIEF PART III: A FAMILY RUN FARM RESORT
PART II: NEGOTIATE INFRASTRCTURE IN SENSITIVE LANDSCAPE The second part of the brief is to enable an updated infrastructure to accomondate need. Road to incorporate electricity, water supply, drainage and bio-gas. A infrastructure that allows for sustainability with suitable sites for bio-gas processing and small scale industry.
Road as the spinal element/ Negotiated route through landscape
Sustainablity, materiality and tectonic are the core issues to be considered around a programme of a small family run farm resort.
Sites for small scale industry and bio-gas processing
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However, these all need to be negotiated carefully with a sensitive landscape. It should enhance the overall experience of landscape rather than undermining it.
PART I: REALIGNMENT OF LAND TENURE AND SPACE
A exemplary guesthouse to be developed in detail that outlines the key strategies for construction in the region in general .
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Existing Tenure boundaries
Realignment of Settlement plots
The ďŹ rst part of the brief is to realign space with the the reality of land tenure. This will establish clear boundaries. It will allow for holistic developments within a family farm with reduced hindrance from neighbours.
AREA OF INTERVENTION Managed forest/ Orchards
Existing housing plots were concentrated on the hillside, partly due to a communist legacy of collective farming. The 1980s land reform has introduced a new land tenure system. Families act as basic units of responsibility and have taken up tenure of arable lands.
Exitings housing plots
Terraced Arable land
Exitings routes
To the town
To reservoir
Creeks leading to river
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Productive Landcape
The current state of landscape of Caopandi is an accumulative result of agricultural practice. Terrace fields, built with tremendous efforts by generations, are one of the most significant legacies of farming. Farmlands are differentiated into different uses by its location, access to irrigation and topography. Historically, the local produce constituted of staple crops such as rice and soybeans, and cash crops such as tea. Staple crops are generally grown in more fertile fields with good access to irrigation along the river. There are ecological consequences of terracing large parts of mountains. Fields are less effective in retaining water and earth compared to forests that inhabited the mountains before. The summer months in the region are frequently visited by heavy rain. To defend the terraces, the retaining walls are built with stones, quarried locally, strengthened by plant growth on the walls.
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Rice Nursery
Chestnut Orcard
Cow Shed
Household Pigsty
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Tea Plantation
Rice Paddy Fields
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Apart from the vernacular terrace fields, water dams and reservoirs are built in the region to provide electricity, irrigation and defense against flooding. Despite agricultural need, the building of reservoirs and water dams was promoted by a political campaign from 1960s, which promoted the village of Da Zhai in Shanxi to stardom through the media of propaganda posters. Propaganda art provided political images that prevailed in China from 1949 to early 1980s. These ‘didactic‘ posters educated people in what was considered right and wrong at any time.1 In 1964, under the pressure of natural disasters and international isolation after the split with Soviet Union in 1960, Mao made a political campaign with the model village Da Zhai. Propaganda posters were deployed as part of the campaign as usual. Located in Shanxi’s mountainous Xiyang County, Dazhai attracted notice in August, 1963, after flooding caused immense damage to the village. The party secretary announced the principle of refusing any state relief, declared Dazhai would rebuild without help, and promised it would even contribute grain to the state.2 Da Zhai, a mountainous village commune, subsequently transformed the landscape to achieve high production. It became the poster village of China in planned economy era. The posters often depicted in crayon colours a village surrounded by mountains all transformed into terraced fields. Portraying ‘life as it ought to be’, these posters were not a cartoonistic version of the real Da Zhai, rather a fu1 Stefan R. Landsberger, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Propaganda Poster’, in Chinese Propaganda Posters, ed. by Benedikt Taschen (Köln: Taschen GmbH, 2003). pp. 16-17 (p. 16) 2 Judith Shapiro, Mao’s War Against Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) p. 96
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turistic vision of landscape and agriculture.3 The emphasis on human effort, technology and transformation of nature is the overarching theme in these posters. Initially promoted as an embodiment of the spirit of independence and hard work that transformed rocky mountainsides to arable fields, Da Zhai was soon presented by Mao as a ‘universal political paradigm for the revolutionary rigour and fervour’. 4 The Da Zhai movement has left many physical monuments in Chinese Landscape. In the studied region, the legacy of this movement is its water dams and reservoirs. The satellite image shows a concentration of reservoirs in part of Dabie Mountains. During 1960-1980, an era of planned economy, series of dams are built in the region. Communes of the villages devoted all the manpower they could afford. The result does provide reliable irrigation and electricity for the local area and beyond. The dam sits imposingly on the top of the river, with giant name scriptures of the dam carefully lined on its waist. It serves as a proud monument of the collective effort in building the dam. They are reminiscent of the aesthetics of Da Zhai, portrayed in propaganda posters. Da Zhai landscape portrayed in propaganda posters is a note on Maoist relationship towards nature. Nature is seen as an enemy that needs to be dominated through human effort and technology. It has left a prolonged effect on the collective mentality towards nature that has transformed Chinese Landscape in modern context. The convincing idea of transforming landscape at a time of dictatorship under Mao remains powerful in today’s China, manifested in ongoing giant projects such as South-North Water Transfer Project and Green Wall of China. The legacy of such productive landscape and ideology that created it pose a chanllenge to the development of leisure and tourism industry in the region. How should the existing landscape transform to appeal to the emergent urban middle class?
3 4
Landsberger, p. 16. Shapiro, p. 96.
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Historic Precedents and Presentation in Landscape Paintings
Landscape paintings became a major category of Chinese art in Tang and Song dynasties. First painted by court painters and artists, landscape paintings were then adopted by a large emergent literati class. The literati class, unlike the nobles who used to dominate the society, are achieved through Confucius learning and Keju examinations. While nobles used to have artists painting them in grand portraits, the scholars of Tang and Song Dynasties adopted landscape paintings to illustrate their class and learnings.1 Wealthy scholars who hold public offices often built retreats in the countryside. The retreats were symbols of their political and philosophical ideals, because countryside living was seen as unspoiled, moral and independent, an idea promoted by influential scholar Tao Yuanming of Jin Dynasty. The scholars also adopted a code from literature and applied in the paintings’ presentation of their retreats. This thesis has compiled a small catalogue that explains some common themes. From the writings alongside most paintings, one learns that many of the paintings were decorated in their formal homes in the cities and sometimes presented to friends as gifts. They served a strong social function.2 A certain parallel narrative can be drawn of the literati of Tang and Song with today’s emergent middle class in urban areas in China. Many people who falls into this category are well-educated, urbane people who seek unspoiled, moral and independent life in the countryside. There are also increasingly an environmental concern and a food security concern for the urban middle class in China. Areas such as Caopandi, hold great potential in accommodating such needs. Its much needed transformation can be inspired by historic precedents. 1 Martin J. Powers, ‘When Is a Landscape like a Body?’ in Landscape, Culture and Power in Chinese Society, ed. by Wen-Hsin Yeh (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1998) pp. 1-22 (p. 19.) 2 James Cahill, Three Alternative Histories of Chinese Painting, (Kansas City: Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, 1988) p. 10
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Island Villas
Encircling Mountains
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1
2
3
Calm Lake Inner Courtyard Outer Courtyard
Porter’s Lodge
View Tower
Private Garden
Fence
Five Deer Hermitage Sole Bridge
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Meeting Room
Family Quarters
Servant Cottages
Island villas, typified by the famed Wangchuan(辋川)Villa of Wang Wei in Tang Dynasty, are replicated in later dynasties repeatedly. The walled villas compose of courtyards connected by colonnades. Bridges and ferry pavilions are elements that narrate the sense of enclosure and the approaching experience. The physical setting of the island is a symbol of spiritual detachment from outside world. Its extensive buildings and farms on the island imply a luxury living seemingly independent on its own. The boats suggested that despite being a hermit, the master still held an active social life with close friends.
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Tree
Waterside Pavilion on stilts with vaulted roof that resembles a boat
Thatched House Rock
A similar but far less elaborate type of hermitage is ‘pavilion by the water’. The pavilion sits precariously next to a cliff on stilts above a stream. The composition of landscape implies a similar sense of isolation as Wangchuan Villa. However, its less comfortable setting suggests a stoic stance of the owner. The owner is often portrayed in the picture, reading, meeting friend or sleeping peacefully, implying defiance in political adversity. The cliff suggests a defensive stance, while the open stream suggests an option of venturing out.
Mountains in Distance
Cliff
River
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Towering Mountains
River
Host Greeting at Portal Guest Arrival by Boat
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Thresholds and boundaries are important elements in composing a hermitage in landscape. As the previously discussed, isolation is implied by the natural landscape. The degree of isolation varies, implied by the boundaries. The natural boundaries range from an unsurpassable cliff, to a small pine tree in the foreground. The subtlety in thresholds and boundaries is important, as it has social meanings. In the example on the left page, the towering mountain in the background suggests an isolated setting. The hermitage cannot be seen but the portal, which opens to a river. The boat arriving is expected as the servants are preparing to welcome the arrival, with doors open. It suggests the private nature of the hermit’s life. The hermit is selective in his social life and only welcomes those whom he pleases.
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Composition of Landscape
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Previous chapters discussed the condition of Caopandi, economic and social context, and historical precedent of leisure in rural China. However, it is still a preliminary study that needs to be corroborated and examined in a planned field study. Instead of transforming the productive landscape, the following design project temporarily accepts the existing condition, and focuses on representation of landscape. It is an idea derived from Chinese landscape paintings that are highly selective and dogmatic in representation. The idea of composing a scene is prominent in many classical Chinese landscape paintings. Each painting has a detailed foreground, a mid-ground with the subject of portrayal and a background that extends to the horizon. Landscape paintings aims to produce carefully curated pictures that ‘encourages the viewer to explore their spaces visually, penetrating ever deeper into the scene.’1 1
Cahill, p. 22
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The first approach on the design project is to assess the views. Basic perspective principle is used. Picturesque views are of abundance in the region. However, these views are juxtaposed with productive elements. Thus the challenge is to accurately measure the desired scopes of views and reproduce them. The Illustration on the right shows an artist drawing from life with an 18th century camera obscura, labelled: B (lens), M (mirror), O (line of light if mirror not in way). The artist used thin tracing paper to capture the outlines, transferred those to canvas, board or paper & finished the drawing. Camera Obscura has been used as a device of measuring since antiquity. The following chapter shows the design process of measuring desirable views using a fixed focal length lens attached to a digital camera, applying the same principles.
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4˚
+3
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+41.5˚
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Fixed Focal Length Lens E 16m F2.8 Attached to APS-C Camera Angle of View: 83˚
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-30˚
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-20˚
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0˚
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+20˚
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View I
-40˚
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-25˚
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0˚
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Composition
Reposition Origin +28˚
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Charting View
+3˚ +28˚
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View II
-40˚
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Composition
Charting View
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0˚ -3˚ -19˚
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y
z
α1
β α2
x
A simple geometrical formula is developed to frame the desired views, with the factors derived from measurements and the distance from the frame. If: the distance between the beholder and the frame is x, α being the desired vertical viewing angle, β being the desired horizontal viewing angle. Then: Frame Width y = 2( x ∙ tan β/2) Frame Height z = x ∙( tan α1+ tan α2)
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Assemlage of Views in a Guesthouse
Site Plan 1:1000
The pilot thesis has chosen to illustrate the design strategy of composition of s views in a small guest house. The house sits in the higher parts of the terrace fields. Its back view of the mountains has a good depth and a layered quality. Illustrated in View I previously, the view is framed in a portrait format. The view angle tilts upwards to avoid future developments obstructing the view. The front of the house looks across the river valley. A landscape format is chosen, as can be seen in View II. Similarly, it leaves out the lower part of the valley. The lower part, occupied by houses and a bare patch resulted by a landslide, is avoided.
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Apart from the two long distance views, there are views that are close to the proposed site. The main living space is opened to a small veranda, a platform shaded by an overhang roof. The opening brings the view of the tree into the house. The other opening on the western façade is covered with a translucent material, possibly a mesh, to capture the long shadow of the tree in setting sun. The main bedroom’s low window looks at a man-made pond and a small garden. Its level is lower than retaining wall, thus hidden from view for privacy.
Plan 1:150
Bedroom
Bedroom
Library Living Space
Kitchen Veranda
Living Space
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Valley View
Southwestern Angle
Mountain View
Mountain View
Shadow View Tree View
Terrace Views Pond Views
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Northwestern Angle
Mountain View
Mountain View
Valley View
Tree View Pond Views
Shadow View Terrace Views
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Section 1:50
View across Valley
ains
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View
em to th
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Historic typology of a Natural House
Waterfall
Fanciful Stone
Grotto
Hill
Extensive Trees
Orchid Whimsical Hedgerow
Pond Stone Platform by the Pond
Room Opens to the Garden Terrace
Stone Stools and Table
Main Living Space Stairs behind Grotto
Study Stone Paved Terrace
Yard
Preliminary Environmental Strategies There are some primary environmental concerns on-site which certain general preliminary environmental strategy can apply. In the summer months, air condition units are commonly deployed in houses in the region. The valley has a micro climate, in which wind from upper parts of the valley cools in summer nights. Therefore cooling load can be significantly reduced by providing sufficient shading and night-time cooling. Another environmental chanllege is rainwater run off from buildings. The current practice of hardening surfaces with cement is aggravating flooding in the region. The principle is to raise the base of new built houses on stilts, so that excessive rainwater can be absorbed through natural surface.
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Outstanding Issues
This pilot thesis aims to establish the scope of the research. It has identified the social and economic change in the area, its physical agricultural legacy, and its potential in tourism and leisure industry development. The main issue is outlined in this pilot is the transformation from an agricultural landscape to a mixed-use landscape that enables tourism and leisure industries. A field study is to be conducted to investigate following conditions: the agriculture practice, the main environmental challenges, and the vernacular architecture. It is to inform a design in a large scale intervention, possibly in the direction of sustainable tourism based on niche agriculture. The design project of the guesthouse proposed a spatial strategy of composition of views. The strategy holds potential in a larger scale, in which planning of sites and buildings are based on composition of views. It remains to be explored in the final design thesis.
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References
Bibliography Cahill, James, Three Alternative Histories of Chinese Painting, (Kansas City: Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, 1988) Cosgrove, Denis E., Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape, (London: Croom Helm, 1984) Dillion, Micheal, China: A Modern History, (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010) Edwards, Richard., The World Around the Chinese Artist, (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1989) Lin, Yutang trans., The Chinese Theory of Art: Translations from the Masters of Chinese Art, (London: Heinemann, 1967) Louie, Kam ed.,The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) Mitchell, William J. T. ed., Landscape and Power, 2nd ed., (London: University of Chicago Press, 2002) Shapiro, Judith, Mao’s War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China: Studies in Environment and History, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) Taschen, Benedikt ed., Chinese Propaganda Posters, (KÜln: Taschen GmbH, 2003) Wu, Hung, McGrath, Jason and Smith, Stephanie, Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art (Chicago: Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 2008) Yeh, Wen-Hsin ed., Landscape, Culture and Power in Chinese Society, (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1998)
Illustrations All illustrations are works of the author except otherwise credited. * Workers and peasants strive hand in hand for a good harvest Song Chunmin 1976 Liaoning People’s Publishing House Collection of Micheal Wolf ** Not Depending on the sky. Chen Wenguang 1975 Shanghai People’s Publishing House Collection of Stefan Landsberger Freer Sackler Gallery: 1 The Wangchuan Villa 16th century Zhao Boju , (Chinese, ca.1120s-ca.1162) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 41.8 W: 638.0 cm China 2 Wangchuan Villa late 14th-mid 17th century Guo Zhongshu , (Chinese, 910-977) Ming dynasty Handscroll; ink and colour on silk H: 34.2 W: 533.7 cm China 3 The Five Deer Hermitage early 17th century
Lu Shiren ca. 1540s - after 1618) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on gold-flecked paper H: 31.0 W: 60.9 cm China 4 The Five Deer Hermitage early 17th century Lu Shiren ca. 1540s - after 1618) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on gold-flecked paper H: 31.0 W: 60.9 cm China 5 Returning Home in Wind and Snow 15th century Xu Daoning , (Chinese, ca. 1000-after 1066) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 183.7 W: 90.8 cm China 6 Listening to a Flute in a Lakeside Pavilion 17th century Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty Hanging scroll; ink and colour on silk W: 98.9 cm China 7 Enjoying the Breeze in a Waterside Pavilion 16th-17th century Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 179.6 W: 110.0 cm China 8 Riverside Pavilion under Towering Cliff
early 16th century Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty Album leaf; ink on silk H: 25.0 W: 20.5 cm China 9 Scholar Arriving at a Riverside Pavilion 15th century Shi Rui , (Chinese, ca. 1426-1470) Ming dynasty Album leaf; ink and colour on silk H: 25.6 W: 20.6 cm China 10 Mountain Studio under Pines ca. 1525 Wang Shichang , (Chinese, 1462-after 1531) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 185.4 W: 102.8 cm China 11 Gazing at the Winter Mountains ca. 1500 Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink and colour on silk H: 162.0 W: 88.3 cm China 12 Three Scholars in a Pavilion Composing Poetry 16th century Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty
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Hanging scroll; ink and colour on silk W: 115.7 cm China 13 Along the River of Chu 17th-18th century Yan Wengui , (Chinese, 10th century) Qing dynasty Ink on silk H: 49.5 W: 1610.6 cm China 14 Hermitage in a Snowy Ravine first-half 16th century Zhe School , (Chinese, ca. 1050s-after 1130) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 166.7 W: 84.0 cm China 15 Listening to a Fisherman’s Flute early 16th century Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty Hanging scroll; ink and colour on silk H: 310.9 W: 114.1 D: 0.0 cm China
possibly 15th century Li Cheng , (Chinese, 919-967) Ming dynasty Ink on paper H: 131.5 W: 63.3 cm China
and boats 1644-1911 Qing dynasty Colour on paper H: 35.0 W: 61.1 cm China
18 Landscape with Figures 1640-1679 Gao Cen , (Chinese, active 1640s-1679) Qing dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 28.0 W: 36.8 cm China
23 Returning Home by Boat in the Autumn Mountains 16th century Jing Hao , (Chinese, ca. 870-ca.935) Ming dynasty Hanging scroll; ink and colour on silk H: 0.0 W: 98.9 cm China
19 Visiting a friend after snowfall without a meeting 16th-17th century Guan Tong , (Chinese, early 10th century) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 147.8 W: 78.0 cm China 20 Waiting for the Ferry 13th century Southern Song dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 23.8 W: 25.2 cm China
16 Viewing the Full Moon from a Water Pavilion late 15th-early 16th century Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink and colour on silk H: 190.9 W: 94.5 cm China
21 Night Rain on the Xiao and Xiang Rivers from the album Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers 1621 Shen Xuan active ca. 1600-1621) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on paper H: 28.7 W: 28.2 cm China
17 Lonely Temple in the Mountains
22 River Landscape: a rocky shore, buildings
24 Traveling at Dawn in the Snowy Foothills 17th century Attributed to Fan Qi , (Chinese, 1616-ca. 1695) Qing dynasty 25 Scholar’s Dwelling in the Mountains ca. 1500 Ma Yuan , (Chinese, active late 12th-early 13th century) Ming dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 134.0 W: 74.0 cm China 26 Returning Home on a Moonlit Night early to mid-16th century Lu Hong active 713-742) Ming dynasty Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink and colour on silk H: 155.1 W: 107.1 cm China 27 Returning Home in the Snow 16th century Wang Xia 8th century) Ming dynasty
Hanging scroll mounted on panel; ink and colour on silk H: 180.3 W: 105.7 cm China 28 Pure Green, Approaching Rain 1644-1911 Huang Qi active late 11th century) Qing dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 115.5 W: 43.2 cm China 29 Scholar Arriving in the Rain 1864 Wang Su , (Chinese, 1794-1877) Qing dynasty Ink and colour on paper H: 93.3 W: 40.7 cm China 30 Clearing Snow along the Riverbank, after Wang Wei Yan Wengui , (Chinese, 10th century) Ming or Qing dynasty Ink and colour on silk H: 30.9 W: 267.7 cm China 31 An artist drawing from life with an 18th century camera obscura, labeled: B (lens), M (mirror), O (line of light if mirror not in way). The artist used thin tracing paper to capture the outlines, transfered those to canvas, board or paper & finished the drawing. 18th Century Dictionary Illustration c1850 unknown illustrator
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