Beijing Courtyard is an important part of Traditional Chinese Houses, and is a comprehensive embodiment of Beijing's geographical environment, climatic conditions, and lifestyle customs and habits. After the change of dynasties and vicissitudes, the courtyard has become a microcosm of the traditional life form and society of old Beijing, and in today's rapid development, the courtyard has gradually integrated into the modern residents' life.
As large as Beijing City, as small as the courtyard, there is a central axis running through the north and south, taking the traditional courtyard in Beijing as an example, even if the number of building floors is high or low, the courtyard has a size, and how many rooms there are, the whole courtyard houses are centered on the central axis, and the east-west symmetrical way is unfolded.
This highly conceptual layout of the central axis alludes to the Confucian idea of "using the middle as the common way", and reconciles the differences between left and right, high and low, and size in the way of "taking the middle", so that "gathering without chaos, dividing without scattering", rich in change in regularity, holding order in change, and full of overall harmony and balance.
The strict axis is a symbolic layout, no matter how the courtyard extends, in many buildings and rooms, the volume of the main room is always the largest, and the decoration is also the highest level of the building, highlighting the most central position of the main room in the entire courtyard, naturally distinguishing a sense of order of primary and secondary, and also implicitly conforming to the traditional etiquette of respect and inferiority.
Interestingly, the Beijing Courtyard, whether it is the main room or the box room, has selected the singular number on the shelf, which is contrary to China's long tradition of preferring to pair up in pairs. Looking around, the Beijing Courtyard is under construction, even if there are four spaces, it must be changed to three rooms, and half of the symmetrical houses on each side will be added, which is called "four breaks five". The aim was to create the spine of the entire courtyard through the combination of buildings. And this central axis as the source of feng shui in the courtyard, the layout saying of "four or six not becoming talented" is derived from this.
Sometimes by consciously arranging some asymmetrical settings, it is also possible to achieve a balanced visual effect, deal with the relationship between the embodiment of the building and the virtual and real proportions of the location and details, and may also find a balance of quantity in the asymmetry of the form. This technique is more vivid and varied. More interesting and infectious, most of which is used in the layout of the courtyard garden.
The courtyard is like a painting with fiction and reality, primary and secondary; an article must have up, bearing, turning, and combining; a piece of music must have a climax and transition, and the courtyard must also have rhythm and sequence. The rooms, corridors, roads, walls, etc. are connected in series to form a constantly changing and sequenced space to show the ornamentality of the building. It can be achieved dynamically or statically to produce the effect of moving steps and changing scenery where it is reached.
Taking the standard courtyard as an example, through the gate in the southeast corner, to the narrow outer courtyard, through the turn to the entrance of the weeping flower gate in the inner courtyard, through the shadow wall, showing the square and spacious main courtyard space, the half-open veranda surrounds the courtyard, and the veranda, as the link connecting the courtyard and each house, is also a transitional space from the courtyard to the private. Houses vary according to the level of hierarchy, and the main house has the largest volume and the highest form and system level, which has become the most prominent focus of the entire courtyard building. A series of similar tail notes are followed by a continuation of the entire courtyard sequence in more secondary spaces, such as the rear shroud and the hindal hood.
The spatial size of the courtyard is different, the architectural layout is dense, and the high and low of the houses are undulating, showing a sense of rhythm of staggering and jumping. The overall spatial sequence of the plan gives a dignified and serious impression, and the winding route from the gate to the inner courtyard gives a rhythmic beauty.