| Liuyuan as a representative of the classical gardens of Suzhou is renowned for its complex space and becomes a key example for the modern studies of spatial composition and spatial sequences believed to be manifested in the Chinese gardens. On the basis of these studies, there are many innovative follow-on research for on the Liuyuan (from the perspectives of narrative, environmental behavior and spatial syntax, etc.), mostly taking the survey plan of Liuyuan in the 1950s-1960s as their point of start. However, the garden of Liuyuan has undergone a constant process of transformation which can be characterized into several stages of development. At the same time the current situation is the result of a major the restoration project in the 1953, in which not only many details were changed, but these details had also affected the overall configuration of the garden, thereby affected the spatial experience of the garden. We can say that its spatial condition today is the result of dual impacts of formal transformation and architectural restoration. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a morphological analysis of the garden under a diachronic perspective. The phased development process of Liuyuan makes a diachronic study of its formal transformation more important. Therefore the author takes Liuyuan as the object of study, and carries on morphological analysis of Liuyuan under the perspective of transformation.Firstly, this thesis takes historical maps and literature as its basis, supplemented by field research, to complete a diachronic study of the transformation process. According to the social and historical contexts, and morphological characteristics, its process of development can be divided into five morphological periods. Based on these periods, this thesis conducts the morphological analysis of the garden in terms of morphological boundary, morphological structure and boundary opening, mainly through the schematic method. Secondly, drawing upon historical literature, this thesis continues to discuss the relationship between the spatial morphology and the cognitive experience of the garden. Finally, this thesis gives a comparative study of Liuyuan’s continuous process of morphological transformation, as well as a comparison of its morphological structure in different periods, in order to explore the principles underlying its morphological change and their impacts on the development of the garden.Based on the above mentioned study, this thesis argues that:firstly, Liuyuan is characterized by the diversity of space and the complexity of time, especially in terms of its morphology that manifested successive expansions (rather than simple replacement), making it distinctive from other garden. Secondly, this thesis has developed a method of morphological analysis that can be applied to the study of gardens, i.e. using the four morphological concepts of morphological period, morphological boundary, morphological structure, and boundary opening, to examine of the morphology of Chinese gardens.This method can generally grasp the overall morphological configurations in each morphological period of a garden and can partially account for the impacts of spatial form on spatial experience. This method may inform the study of historic sites undergone constant changes in general and gardens in particular. The whole thesis contains about 59000 words,139 pictures and charts. |
