On South And West Fujian Regional Architecture Interpretation In The View Of Architectural Anthropology

Architectural anthropology has been widely used in recent years in the research of built heritage to reveal the connection between heritage and its builders as well as users.This thesis extends the boundary of architectural anthropology,applying it to the study of the formation mechanism of regional architecture,and then uses the principles of architectural anthropology as guidance on the design of contemporary regional architecture.In terms of research methods,this thesis combined theories from both anthropology and architecture to seek the deep reason behind architectural phenomenon,including Margaret Mead’s theory on Culture and Commitment,Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of Semiotics,Clifford Geertz’s Thick Description theory,Amos Rapoport’s House Form theory,Zheng Zhenman’s theory on Family Lineage and Wang Shaosen’s views on the design methods of regional architecture.These theories concentrate on the relationship between human and culture from different perspectives.Using these theories,the thesis attempts to clarify how people build self-cognition in certain cultural backgrounds,and then create architectural types accordingly,thus building a bridge between regional culture and architecture.Tulou in Western Fujian and Jiageng Building in Southern Fujian are selected as main subject of research.Tulou derives from Local Society,which features deep integration of spatial mode and family lineage.Jiageng Building results from Spatial Society,and adapts to new social condition of cultural fusion by a mixture of architectural form.Through thick description of these two types of architecture,the connection between traditional architecture and culture is unveiled.The thesis then gives a critical review on contemporary works emulating Tulou and Jiageng Building.Contemporary regional architecture which derives from the research of traditional regional architecture is a non-negligible component of contemporary architecture.The foundation of contemporary architecture is modern architectural education system and social system,which is a professional knowledge system based on increasingly complicated division of labor,while traditional regional architecture is based on folk knowledge system and traditional society,which is deeply rooted in common sense among the entirety of the people.There is a fundamental distinction between the principle of contemporary and traditional regional architecture,and oftentimes the interpretation of traditional architecture remains superficial.This thesis aims to narrow the gap between the two using architectural anthropology.This thesis then proposes three different types of contemporary regional architecture in Fujian,Reflection of Dacuo,Rhythm of Ocean and the synthesis of both,and inspects architectural works of these three types by anthropology theory to draw several principles.Finally,by using these principles in the introspection and self-criticism of the author’s own projects,this thesis promotes the depth of the research in contemporary regional architecture.