The Research Of Folk Houses In Central Hunan’s Regional Composition

In all types of buildings, vernacular dwellings are the best indicator ofcivilization. As they show the people’s basic needs of life.They act as a true portrayalof traditional civilization. China has long history of traditional houses, which contentera sensation and characteristic of their region, thus the development of vernaculardwellings can be considered as the epitome of traditional Chinese culturaldevelopment. Because of geographic and cultural differences in different area,vernacular dwellings,which show significant regional differences,are thetridimensional panels of regional culture.As the development of modern economy and new rural construction campaign,traditional vernacular dwellings become incapable of people’s growing need,thus theygradually withdrew from the stage of history. However, the abounding techniques andcultural connotation accumulated by the growth of vernacular dwellings.Based on vernacular dwellings in middle Hunan, this dissertation is going tofocus on the regional composition of traditional vernacular dwellings, and exploringnew methods of residential construction and renovation.In the context of globalizationnowadays, the new regional language of reserving and renewing of vernaculardwellings has become an important issue. We have been exploring how to extend thetraditional context, while seeking the method to meet the needs for today’s livingmode.This dissertation is divided into six chapters. The first chapter introduces bothhistorical and research background and significance of subject researching, which arefollowed by research methodologies and key issues. Chapter II expounds the relevantconcepts and international research results of vernacular dwellings, and an overviewof the geographical conditions of Hunan region. Chapters3and4investigate regionalstructure of vernacular dwellings in Hunan, including residential layout features,environment creating, space composition and geographical characteristics of thearchitectural language. Chapter V summarizes of the modern changes of newvernacular residential areas in Hunan from the perspective of development. ChapterVI describes the thoughts about the principles and methods of constructing andrenovating vernacular residential buildings in Hunan.