Page 115 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Sustainability of courtyard building

Figure 3. The result of the 3D scanner application. Source: Scan by Chuan
Figure 2. Chongren town. Source: Google maps He

To generalize the research results, the case study Revit, the information model of the building was derived,
selection process should ensure that properties such as and the AutoCAD floor plan was exported (Figure 4). The
the layout of the rooms, the orientation of the building, structure of the Flag Stall courtyard building is similar to
and the choice of materials are representative of the local the structures of Chinese courtyard buildings discussed in
population of buildings. Based on this requirement, an the literature review, with the difference being that it has
initial group of 10 courtyard buildings was considered two floors.
suitable for the study. It is worth noting that during the investigation, it was
From this shortlist, a final selection was made: The found that the building still had residents living in one of
Flag Stall courtyard building, a north-facing building the rooms on the left, despite being listed as an important
constructed mid-Qing dynasty, comprising two floors national cultural relic by the State Council of the People’s
over 510 sqm. This building is particularly well-preserved, Republic of China and being open to tourists. Since the
with its internal structure and components undamaged, building is axisymmetric, the geometry of the inhabited
reducing the difficulty of research and improving the room was derived from the room on the opposite side of
persuasiveness of the conclusions. the symmetry axis. The fact that it is still inhabited may
reflect the building’s habitability.
4.2. Study site and its climate The building is geometrically regular, facing south, and
Chongren town is located in the northwest of Shengzhou, comprises a ground floor, a first floor, and a pitched roof,
11 km from downtown Shengzhou City. The Köppen with a total floor area of 510 sqm. It consists of six rooms
climate type is humid subtropical, characterized by hot and and a dining room on the ground floor, six rooms, a storage
humid summers and cool to mild winters (He et al., 2008). room and a balcony on the first floor, and a courtyard in
Temperatures vary from 1°C to 33°C, rarely falling below the middle.
−4°C or above 37°C. The hot season lasts for 3 months, A gate on the south leads to the courtyard, and two side
from mid-June to mid-September, with daily average high doors on the east and west provide access to room 1 and
temperatures over 28°C. The coldest month is January, with room 6, respectively, as shown in the ground floor plan
an average low temperature of 1°C and an average high of (Figure 4). From the distribution of the doors, it can be
9°C. The prevailing wind is south-easterly in summer and observed that, although the building is a single structure,
northerly in winter. it is composed of independent rooms. According to local
5. Case study residents, such buildings may have been built by one
person and then distributed to several descendants, with
The architectural information of the building was obtained each descendant having an independent family occupying
through photography, measurement, 3D field scanning different rooms. In some cases, several nuclear families
(Figure 3), and reverse modeling. Accuracy was achieved may have invested together to build a courtyard building,
at the centimeter level, and after modeling with Autodesk with each family occupying different rooms after the

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 7 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3187