The Reinterpretation Of XiangshanBang's Works,According To The Existed Traditional Hand-Built Construction

Xiangshanbang,a traditional Chinese genre of manual constructing,along with its own recording book Ying Zao Fa Yuan,represents one of the most essential accomplishments in ancient Chinese construction history.In this article,it's assumed that the works of Xiangshanbang are close to some kind of discourse system that is originated from traditional manual constructing.That the semiotics study on an unknown country(Japan)in Empire of Signs,a book written by Roland Barthe in his late years,shows how semiotic observations and descriptions of seemingly common phenomena can offer a new vision inspired the author of this article to use the same semiotic method to interpret Xiangshanbang's discourse system.The semiotic interpretation of Xiangshanbang's practice is close to an experiment conducted under semiotic theories.Modern Architecture has weak connection with the traditonal handwork system,while there are intensive studies on Xiangshanbang itself,few has looked into the craftsmen's corporeal experience.These disquisitions help readers acquire the knowledge of Xiangshanbang,and it is in doubt whether true descriptions are offered and whether there are discussions about the relationship between Xiangshanbang and modern construction system.According to such situation,here in this article late Roland Barthe's semiotic methods are applied in a productive way rather than a explanatory way.With the help of hermeneutics method,The author trys to use five codes in Barthe's late semiotics to carefully interpret Xiangshanbang's constructing practices.By taking Michel Foulcault's ideas of episteme as a reference,comparisons of epistemes in Xiangshanbang's works and modern architecture are made,from which today's architecture will benefit a lot.This reinterpretation aims at comparing the signs of Xiangshanbang and of modern architecture,between which there are differences in meaning and operations in life.The discussion is inspiring in how to save the declining crafts and how to combine such manual system with today's architecture in a innovative way.