Page 116 - JCAU-6-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Sustainability of courtyard building

Figure 4. Flag stall courtyard building. Source: Drawings by Chuan He

construction was completed. Each room has openable Stall courtyard building, built in the mid-Qing dynasty,
windows, and the roof has fixed glazing. The courtyard still has occupants in 2022, proving that the strength of the
provides residents with an internal semi-public space used tenon-and-mortise link is sufficient for use over 300 years.
for exercising, resting, planting, washing, and drying. For This indicates that today’s unsustainable building materials,
this reason, the Chinese courtyard building resembles a such as cement and steel, can potentially be replaced by
small community. The courtyard also provides natural light wood and tenon-and-mortise structures.
to the rooms on the north side and enhances convection
and ventilation. There is a patio on the north side, enclosed 5.1. Materials
by two rooms, a dining room, and an outer wall, serving The whole building is constructed on a rammed earth
similar functions as the courtyard, mainly considering the layer, with a layer of stone forming the ground floor.
lighting and ventilation of the north rooms. A wooden frame with a tenon-and-mortise structure is
The building is a frame structure. The first floor is built on this surface. The frame is filled with stone and
mainly made of stone, while the second floor is mainly planks for the exterior and interior walls, and the top of
made of wood. The pillars, beams, and floor slabs are the frame is covered with tiles for the roof. Door frames,
primarily wooden, forming the frame of the building thresholds, steps, and pillar bases are all made of stone.
through traditional mortise and tenon joints, as illustrated The frame material is primarily raw wood, with some stone
in Figure 5. This type of connection ensures a certain degree components. The windows and skylights are framed in
of frame firmness without the use of steel bars, nails, and glass and wood (Table 3). Compared with concrete, steel,
other metal connecting components (Kang et al., 2011). and other building materials, wood has several advantages.
The results of the previous survey indicate that the Flag It absorbs CO as it grows, and its processing requires only
2

Volume 6 Issue 3 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3187