Traditional wooden joinery is the craft of connecting wood pieces for buildings or producing utensils by utilizing only the geometry of the components and material properties of the wood,without other materials such a...Traditional wooden joinery is the craft of connecting wood pieces for buildings or producing utensils by utilizing only the geometry of the components and material properties of the wood,without other materials such as glue or metal connectors.In its thousands of years of tradition,this construction technique has achieved high accomplishment in both East Asian and European architectural civilizations.Although sharing the same basic principles,joinery techniques vary between regions and cultures,rooted in the geographical environment,available wood species and their material properties,characteristics of craftsmanship,tools,and structural systems.Wood framing systems from China,Japan,and Western Europe are selected for comparison to assess the relationship between wood joinery and other aspects of building technology.The main conclusions include:in East Asia,the building tradition pays great attention to the design and execution of joinery(sunmao榫卯),making it responsible for multiple functions including architectural mechanics and the stability of the entire frame,which leads to a broader role meant by the term“joint”itself,while in Europe joinery is treated as the“node”or literally“joint”of the structure.Although in both East Asia and Europe wooden joinery serves as an aesthetic factor of the structure,its expression in East Asia is subtle,veiled,and restrained,while in Europe it is explicit and direct.The most important lesson we learn from the study of traditional joinery technology is that it should be seen in the context of the building process as a whole,taking into account geographical environment,material resources,craftsmanship,tools,construction methods,structural form,and the structural system.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52008194)。
文摘Traditional wooden joinery is the craft of connecting wood pieces for buildings or producing utensils by utilizing only the geometry of the components and material properties of the wood,without other materials such as glue or metal connectors.In its thousands of years of tradition,this construction technique has achieved high accomplishment in both East Asian and European architectural civilizations.Although sharing the same basic principles,joinery techniques vary between regions and cultures,rooted in the geographical environment,available wood species and their material properties,characteristics of craftsmanship,tools,and structural systems.Wood framing systems from China,Japan,and Western Europe are selected for comparison to assess the relationship between wood joinery and other aspects of building technology.The main conclusions include:in East Asia,the building tradition pays great attention to the design and execution of joinery(sunmao榫卯),making it responsible for multiple functions including architectural mechanics and the stability of the entire frame,which leads to a broader role meant by the term“joint”itself,while in Europe joinery is treated as the“node”or literally“joint”of the structure.Although in both East Asia and Europe wooden joinery serves as an aesthetic factor of the structure,its expression in East Asia is subtle,veiled,and restrained,while in Europe it is explicit and direct.The most important lesson we learn from the study of traditional joinery technology is that it should be seen in the context of the building process as a whole,taking into account geographical environment,material resources,craftsmanship,tools,construction methods,structural form,and the structural system.
