Traditional Chinese architecture is mainly civil engineering products, using frame structure, tenon installation, beam frame load-bearing. In terms of modeling, it attaches importance to curvy beauty, vivid rhyme, and pays more attention to freehand lyricism. The traditional Western building materials are mainly stone products, using column-enclosing and coupon-column structures, and the wall columns bear loads. In terms of modeling, attention is paid to the application of blocks and surfaces, and the form is thick and heavy. In short, different regional environments have created different cultural customs and architectural styles.
01 Differences in building materials
There are three main kinds of traditional building materials in China and the West: earth, wood, stone, traditional Chinese building materials are mainly wood, Western building materials are more based on stone, Chinese is the use of stone and earth for building bases and walls, Westerners are using wood for the roof, which makes Chinese and Western architecture have their own different characteristics, but also express different emotions, Chinese architecture is more to show a kind of human own emotions, Western architecture is a kind of god and god emotions, biased and religious.
Differences in building materials depend on geographical environment and human customs. Along the Yellow River Basin in China, chang'an has always been an important economic and cultural center from Qin to Tang. Du Mu's "A Fang Gong Fu" once wrote: "Five steps on the first floor, ten steps and one pavilion; the corridor waist is back, and the eaves are high and pecked", which also confirms from the side that the local civil engineering resources are rich in reserves and are easy to build with local materials. The building is a wooden frame, the roof tiles and wall bricks are made of soil and water, and then made of fire, as the saying goes, "the wall does not collapse the house", indicating that the wall is not load-bearing, it is load-bearing by the wooden frame, which can be seen in the traditional Chinese architectural culture, the importance of wood.
Ancient Greece and Rome are located on the Mediterranean coast, the native belongs to a narrow peninsula, surrounded by a large number of fragmented islands, the territory has the famous Mount Vesuvius, limestone and marble reserves are abundant. The climate belongs to the Mediterranean climate, the humid sea breeze is mixed with the erosion of sea salt, if the use of wooden structures is more likely to be decayed, so the use of stone buildings is easier to preserve and maintain. The Romans invented concrete made of a mixture of volcanic ash, lime and sand and stone, thus providing the material and technical basis for the construction of huge arches in the Romanesque style, and also contributing to the subsequent development of building materials.
02 Differences in spatial layout
Traditional Chinese architecture is introverted in space, the courtyard is deep, pay attention to the opening and closing rhythm of the courtyard, the layout level of the building, emphasize the distinction between the main and secondary, balance and symmetry, and at the same time pay attention to the layout of the five elements of feng shui in the whole planning, pay attention to the perspective of the viewer's movement, and play the art of the flat space; while the Western traditional building is extroverted, the city is often centered on the square, the surrounding buildings are open to pedestrians, standing on the square can see the whole picture of the building, more prominent the existence of the single building, playing the art of façade space.
Mr. Liang Sicheng has a wonderful analogy for this, he said that looking at Western architecture is like looking at oil paintings, and you can observe the whole picture of architecture from a fixed perspective; while Chinese architecture is like a scroll painting, we have to unfold the picture little by little, in this process we can appreciate the sense of space expressed in the painting.
Chinese architecture pays attention to left and right symmetry, in visual and space art, with feng shui layout to imply the unity of heaven and man, closed courtyards are presented with the coordination of single buildings in exchange for the harmony and unity of the overall environment, do not pursue the abrupt independence of a single building, pay attention to the combination of virtual and real group space layout, multiple groups of buildings around a central space composition, layer by layer, pay attention to the organic cooperation and foil of the development of the building group plane.
Western architecture supports thick, large-span roofs through towering stone columns, forming a rich and developed interior space, symbolizing the worship of power, giving a momentum of upward and peripheral expansion, highlighting columnar variations, emphasizing individual representation, and creating a sharp contrast with the surrounding natural environment.
03 Differences in architectural form
Chinese architecture has a strong pictorial effect, focusing on the creation of structural beauty and artistic beauty, and highlighting the supremacy of the ruler and the wealth and strength of the Heavenly Dynasty through gorgeous colors and many architectural combinations. Western architecture pursues the sculptural beauty of architecture, often emphasizing the eternity and sublimity of architectural art with huge volume and transcendent scale. The building has a tight geometry, rendering the vertical strength of the house with a sense of outrage in domes and minarets, forming an outward feature that stands proudly and is opposed to nature.
China's official architecture, from the perspective of a single building, the style of change is not large, whether it is different uses or different eras, the plane and façade are well-behaved, with columns, beams to support the large roof, it is not easy to see the obvious differences and evolution. Of course, China's residential buildings will be more lively and vivid, reflecting many regional characteristics, but at the same time, they must also comply with certain hierarchical regulations.
In contrast, individual buildings in the West tend to be varied. Even the architectural whites can easily see the difference between palaces and churches, Gothic churches and Baroque churches, which show great differences in appearance.
04 Differences in architectural culture
Ancient Chinese architecture was influenced by the culture of great unification, paying more attention to ethics and morality and hierarchical order. Therefore, in the single building, it is necessary to strictly follow the fixed style, cannot be freely played, and must be subject to the layout planning of the building complex. But in the end, many similar buildings were used to create a huge and complex palace and city, which was impressive. This is the embodiment of patriarchal etiquette and collectivity in Confucian culture under the unified empire.
Although the traditional western architecture lacks the unity of layout, the single building is magnificent and magnificent, the façade is exquisitely carved and beautiful, each building seems to be showing off its own beauty, and the dispersion of political power has also allowed each place to develop its own style, which is the embodiment of individual freedom behind it.
Most Western architecture embodies the connotations of rational resistance, individual consciousness and religious fanaticism in Western culture. From the ancient Greek column to the Roman arch, from the Gothic coldness to the baroque beauty, there is a critical inheritance relationship, which is also a characteristic of the pattern of Western cultural change.