jaue2019-027: Exploration on the Future Development of Chinese Vernacular Architecture -- A Case Study of Yaodong dwellings in Northern Shaanxi

Abstract

Under the impact of industrialization and modernization, the economic, social and cultural structure of rural 
China has undergone tremendous changes. How the vernacular architecture that carries the memories and culture 
of the past survives in the new era of China – whether directly or indirectly – is an urgent problem to be solved. 
As a unique type of traditional residence at the Loess Plateau for a long time, Yaodong dwellings has many natural 
ecological advantages, such as saving farmland, low cost, and high indoor thermal comfort. First of all, this paper 
analyzes the inevitability of the demise of traditional Chinese vernacular architecture and discusses the problems 
in the development of new vernacular architecture in the case of Yaodong dwellings of Mafang Village in northern 
Shaanxi. Secondly, it discusses the protection and development of the old Yaodong dwellings from the functional 
and formal view. Finally, from the aspects of form and material, this paper deeply discusses the enlightenment of 
the traditional Yaodong dwellings in Mafang Village to the modern new vernacular architecture and analyzes the 
importance of cultural self-confidence for the design of new vernacular buildings and the spontaneous 
construction of the residents for the reshaping of the new vernacular spirit.