A Study On The Geographical Features Of Traditional Civilian Housing In Small Towns Of Southern Shaanxi Province

Located between the south of the Qinling Mountains and the north of the Ta-pa Mountains, Southern Shaanxi Province has a relatively undeveloped traffic. With Central Shaanxi in the North, Hubei Province in the East, Sichuan Province in the West and Chongqing in the South, Southern Shaanxi, due to its unique geographic locations, climate and ecological conditions, as well as its cultural resources, has developed a distinct landscape of its own. Owning to its location between the Qingling Maintains and the Ta-pa Mountains, the construction of the local towns and villages in Southern Shaanxi Province is deeply influenced by the culture from Shaanxi, Sichuan and Hubei. And because of its remoteness, Southern Shaanxi has preserved a great many local buildings and villages, helping the local buildings and towns in Southern Shaanxi to form a style of its own.The studies on traditional civil housings in small towns of Southern Shaanxi Province have so far mainly focused on the styles, the characteristics, the preservation as well as the development of the buildings, with civil housing architectures in a single area as their subjects, hence the lack of comparative and comprehensive studies of the towns in different areas. Nowadays, the protection of traditional civil housing is confronted with difficult situations and such problems as imprecise legislation and failure in the reinforcement of laws. Therefore, it’s necessary to improve people’s awareness to recognize, protect and inherit the fine parts of local civil housing architecture.Based on an investigation of the geographical environment, spatial layout, architectural configuration and constructing method of the traditional civil housing in small towns of Southern Shaanxi Province, this thesis takes the civil houses in Hanzhong and Ankang as examples and select relatively unique small towns for field research. Through spot investigation and records, design analysis and field measurement, it conducts an investigation and data collection of the civil houses in small towns of Southern Shaanxi, and further carries out a theoretical study of the architectural characteristics, regional ecological environment, construction method as well as the development of the buildings in small towns of Southern Shaanxi Province, which will make better the regional architectural design of small towns, help achieve a sustained development of small towns’ construction and natural environment, and prepare for the preservation and exploitation of traditional civil housing so as to support small towns’ development and extend and recover their traditional civil housing. Therefore, it’s required to respect traditional culture and civil housing in Southern Shaanxi Province and maintain a harmony between human beings and environment so as to inherit the fine parts of regional architectural culture and create ecological architecture embodied by small towns of Southern Shaanxi Province.