中西方建筑文化的差异

On the Discrepancy of the Chinese and Western Architectural Culture

主讲：熊慧 制作人：熊慧 刘珍 冯惠

Introduction

Architecture is the material carrier of human life. The need of sheltering from the wind and rain is the original motive of architecture. Since the human culture emerged in the world, architecture has taken cultural connotation. Different nations usually have different architectural cultures.

1 Architectural Materials

Chinese architects used woods as the main building materials. Delicate Tough Soft（细腻，柔美） Gentle and reserved.

The main building material of the western traditional architecture is stone. Straightforward Simple Rigid（刚性） Majestic（庄严的，宏伟的）

2 Architectural Structures Traditional Chinese people

believe in the idea

of nature-human

integration(“天人

合一”). In our Chinese culture, we advocate that men should

keep a harmonious relationship with nature.

Chinese architecture is

required to be like the

nature. There are

many small hills and

ponds in Chinese

traditional gardens.

2 Architectural Structures As for Western people, they advocate individualism which cares much about the individual.

Thus the Western buildings tend to be detached（分离的， 分开的） patterns while most Chinese traditional buildings are aggregate（聚集的） patterns.

The geomantic （风水的） culture and the theory of the five natural elements – metal, wood, water, fire and earth .

3 Architectural Beauty

Western architects care much about aesthetic geometry（几何美） in their architecture. Reason： the different aesthetic standards and value concepts

4 Architectural Distribution

Chinese traditional architecture is built in group. That is, more individual architectures make up a big architectural group.

They extend crosswise in space, required axial symmetry.

The city distribution is always rectangular. The whole style is introversive, close, strict and these reflect the implication and privacy.

4 Architectural Distribution

Most of the western traditional architecture extends vertically in the space, requires to be tall Their city distribution is usually concentric.

The whole style is extroverted, open, active, enterprising and free.

5 Architectural “Art language”

The western architecture usually develops in lengthways and directly points to the sky. How to support these stone roofs up to sky is the key of the architecture art. So the “basic vocabulary” of the western architecture is post and the roof is the “main sentence pattern”. The distinction of the roof leads to different architecture styles, such as Greek style, Rome style, Byzantine style.

5 Architectural “Art language” The bracket set（斗拱） is the basic vocabulary of Chinese traditional wooden architecture. Cornice（檐口，飞檐） has many styl

es. Different styles make out different art effects. Some are spry and some are strict or depressive. Cornice can be used to express status and emotion in pavilions, terraces and towers.

6 Architectural Value Concepts

Chinese traditional architecture emphasizes on goodness. That is, people pay attention to the architectural practicality. Chinese think that the architecture is man-made.

The Western traditional architecture shows the eternality. It is regarded as God’s creation, and prominence to beauty is given. In addition, architectural artistry takes priority.

Conclusion

What we can see from the above analysis is that Chinese and Western architecture represent between two terminals due to their differences history origins customs psychological constructions ethic nation ways of thinking value orientation …