Public Space Of Historical And Cultural District Planning And Design In Tanhualin

Public space is an essential part of the historical district. Architectures live in space, and space which exists as negative space corresponding to the architectural space provides the soul and vitality for architecture.The Tanhualin historic and cultural block in Wuhan witnessed the entire history of the development process of Wuchang from Huangwu two years (A. D.223years), Sun Quan fortification, to the Xinhai Revolution (1911). The buildings within the site such as Tsung Tsin Christian Church, the Swedish Consulate, Foundling hospital and Ren Ji hospital combine the culture of the ancient city, religion, education, health care, street and Chunghsiao all in one. The conservation and restoration work of the historic buildings in this site has already begun. However, the attention for the public spaces appears insufficient. In this paper, based on a viewpoint of protecting the cultural heritage and through historical documents research and spot investigation, the author applied a deep analysis on spatial form and structure of the block to find a kind of public space which could form a symbiotic relationship between open space and architecture.Firstly, the author proposed the research framework through the analysis of the current situation of China and abroad. On basis of the basic design theory of the public spaces within historical and cultural districts, this paper described the significance of public space design and its current crisis. Meanwhile, it summed up the design principles and methods of public space in historical districts after some case studies of China and abroad. Afterwards, concerned about Tanhualin historic and cultural block, the paper analysed the fundamental elements of public spaces of the block through historical documents collection and spot investigation. Furthermore, it focused on study of the form of spaces, including morphology, positive and negative spaces, view and space imagery. Finally, according to the result of analysis, the author proposed a masterplan of Tanhualin’s public spaces, including the design of streetscape, nodes, topography and the protection of historic buildings.