Reconstruction of buildings in the Christchurch central business district following the 2011 earthquake has been a massive undertaking that is not yet completed.Interviews have been conducted with representatives of t...Reconstruction of buildings in the Christchurch central business district following the 2011 earthquake has been a massive undertaking that is not yet completed.Interviews have been conducted with representatives of the consulting engineering companies who designed 55 of these buildings from 2017 until 2025 to determine:(i)the building construction materials and structural system types used,and(ii)the drivers for the selection of these systems.The information obtained is compared with a 2017 survey,by the authors,with the same design companies for buildings constructed from 2012 to 2017,as part of the Christchurch rebuild after the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes.It is found that 47%and 45%of the buildings constructed had steel and concrete lateral force resisting systems,respectively,with the remainder using timber.In terms of floor space areas,the steel buildings were typically larger and the ratios were 70%and 24%,respectively.The most popular structural steel seismic systems were MRFs and BRBFs with 29%and 20%of the floor areas,respectively.Gravity systems,when needed,were generally steel.Although slightly different,these numbers are similar in magnitude to those reported in the prior study.However,comparing the factors driving choice of structure systems reported in the previous study,many of the engineers interviewed commented that,as the Canterbury earthquakes became further away in time,fewer of their clients requested resilient designs that would help achieve functionality(e.g.,maintain business continuity)following future earthquakes,requesting instead lowest-cost designs.Nonetheless,it is expected that much of the newer construction will provide improvements in seismic performance given that many buildings were designed for significantly higher strength and lower drift than permitted in the standards.展开更多
This review article explores the trajectory of vernacular architectural documentation and preservation in China,including both notable successes and unfortunate failures.While the documentation and preservation of mon...This review article explores the trajectory of vernacular architectural documentation and preservation in China,including both notable successes and unfortunate failures.While the documentation and preservation of monuments of the past have a long-recorded history,the story of the‘discovery’,documentation,and preservation of vernacular sites—individual structures as well as building complexes—is less known.This essay presents how‘outsiders’—mainly intrepid academics within China—travelled to out-of-the-way villages and towns after 1949 to find historic structures that were known to local residents but not to the broader world,even within China.Tragically,their findings were unpublished for decades.During politically charged periods,there was an orgy of calamitous destruction of countless vernacular buildings,an astonishing loss caused by the abandonment,renovation for alternative uses,and even razing of historic residences,temples,lineage halls,bridges,and walls in both rural and urban areas.Despite these enormous losses,many today marvel at the abundance of seemingly‘historic’structures that are still standing.This essay examines the roots of this apparent contradiction.Rural revitalisation has become a national issue for China in recent decades.In support of this initiative,an extraordinary amount of successful historic preservation work in villages has been accomplished.Today,unlike in the past,heritage protection focuses on broader village landscapes rather than on individual buildings.The challenges of preserving architectural sites are centred around issues of restoration versus recreation as well as redevelopment,that is,demolition followed by reconstruction.The commodification of heritage through the acceleration of tourism continues to have both positive and negative impacts.Judgements about authenticity often continue to be at odds with investors’need to recoup costs and ensure ongoing profits.展开更多
Essentially unknown in the rest of the world and only recently appreciated in China,the globally significant 3000+‘corridor bridges’(langqiao)in China far outnumber the better-known‘covered bridges’found in North ...Essentially unknown in the rest of the world and only recently appreciated in China,the globally significant 3000+‘corridor bridges’(langqiao)in China far outnumber the better-known‘covered bridges’found in North America and Europe.Rivaling or exceeding those in the West in number,age,complexity,and architectural ambition,some of China’s outstanding timber langqiao in the mountains of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces are on the cusp of being inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites.Throughout south and central China today there is moreover a resurgence of new timber langqiao being erected using traditional carpentry alongside the unprecedented construction of modern marvels of steel and concrete.Archaeological evidence in 2001 uncovered China’s earliest‘corridor bridge’—thus the oldest known covered bridge in the world—with a length of 42m dating to the Han dynasty 2000 years ago.The Rulong Bridge,which dates to 1625 and is documented as the oldest standing woven arch-beam langqiao,can be visited today in Qingyuan county,southern Zhejiang.Even older langqiao with parallel log beams as the substructure have come to light in neighboring Fujian province,most notably the Zhiqing Bridge in a rural area of Jian’ou city that dates to 1490.China’s bridges,whether with a corridor atop or without,have traditionally not been included under the umbrella of‘vernacular architecture’even as they usually were created by local craftspeople employing the same approaches and practices for dwellings and temples.Just as with these better researched structures,langqiao must be studied not only from the perspective of architecture,but also anthropology,geography,history,and sociology,among other disciplines.Rather than being abandoned as artifacts from the past,China’s langqiao today represent a living tradition that continues serving rural communities as places of passage,spaces for leisure and marketing,sites for worship,and increasingly destinations for tourists in search of nostalgic connections with China’s past.The research presented in this article draws heavily from the authors’China’s Covered Bridges:Architecture over Water,a comprehensive book published in late 2019 in Shanghai and London by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press that will be distributed in 2020 by the University of Hawai’i Press.Despite the scope of this book,the complexity of China’s langqiao remains understudied.展开更多
文摘Reconstruction of buildings in the Christchurch central business district following the 2011 earthquake has been a massive undertaking that is not yet completed.Interviews have been conducted with representatives of the consulting engineering companies who designed 55 of these buildings from 2017 until 2025 to determine:(i)the building construction materials and structural system types used,and(ii)the drivers for the selection of these systems.The information obtained is compared with a 2017 survey,by the authors,with the same design companies for buildings constructed from 2012 to 2017,as part of the Christchurch rebuild after the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes.It is found that 47%and 45%of the buildings constructed had steel and concrete lateral force resisting systems,respectively,with the remainder using timber.In terms of floor space areas,the steel buildings were typically larger and the ratios were 70%and 24%,respectively.The most popular structural steel seismic systems were MRFs and BRBFs with 29%and 20%of the floor areas,respectively.Gravity systems,when needed,were generally steel.Although slightly different,these numbers are similar in magnitude to those reported in the prior study.However,comparing the factors driving choice of structure systems reported in the previous study,many of the engineers interviewed commented that,as the Canterbury earthquakes became further away in time,fewer of their clients requested resilient designs that would help achieve functionality(e.g.,maintain business continuity)following future earthquakes,requesting instead lowest-cost designs.Nonetheless,it is expected that much of the newer construction will provide improvements in seismic performance given that many buildings were designed for significantly higher strength and lower drift than permitted in the standards.
文摘This review article explores the trajectory of vernacular architectural documentation and preservation in China,including both notable successes and unfortunate failures.While the documentation and preservation of monuments of the past have a long-recorded history,the story of the‘discovery’,documentation,and preservation of vernacular sites—individual structures as well as building complexes—is less known.This essay presents how‘outsiders’—mainly intrepid academics within China—travelled to out-of-the-way villages and towns after 1949 to find historic structures that were known to local residents but not to the broader world,even within China.Tragically,their findings were unpublished for decades.During politically charged periods,there was an orgy of calamitous destruction of countless vernacular buildings,an astonishing loss caused by the abandonment,renovation for alternative uses,and even razing of historic residences,temples,lineage halls,bridges,and walls in both rural and urban areas.Despite these enormous losses,many today marvel at the abundance of seemingly‘historic’structures that are still standing.This essay examines the roots of this apparent contradiction.Rural revitalisation has become a national issue for China in recent decades.In support of this initiative,an extraordinary amount of successful historic preservation work in villages has been accomplished.Today,unlike in the past,heritage protection focuses on broader village landscapes rather than on individual buildings.The challenges of preserving architectural sites are centred around issues of restoration versus recreation as well as redevelopment,that is,demolition followed by reconstruction.The commodification of heritage through the acceleration of tourism continues to have both positive and negative impacts.Judgements about authenticity often continue to be at odds with investors’need to recoup costs and ensure ongoing profits.
文摘Essentially unknown in the rest of the world and only recently appreciated in China,the globally significant 3000+‘corridor bridges’(langqiao)in China far outnumber the better-known‘covered bridges’found in North America and Europe.Rivaling or exceeding those in the West in number,age,complexity,and architectural ambition,some of China’s outstanding timber langqiao in the mountains of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces are on the cusp of being inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites.Throughout south and central China today there is moreover a resurgence of new timber langqiao being erected using traditional carpentry alongside the unprecedented construction of modern marvels of steel and concrete.Archaeological evidence in 2001 uncovered China’s earliest‘corridor bridge’—thus the oldest known covered bridge in the world—with a length of 42m dating to the Han dynasty 2000 years ago.The Rulong Bridge,which dates to 1625 and is documented as the oldest standing woven arch-beam langqiao,can be visited today in Qingyuan county,southern Zhejiang.Even older langqiao with parallel log beams as the substructure have come to light in neighboring Fujian province,most notably the Zhiqing Bridge in a rural area of Jian’ou city that dates to 1490.China’s bridges,whether with a corridor atop or without,have traditionally not been included under the umbrella of‘vernacular architecture’even as they usually were created by local craftspeople employing the same approaches and practices for dwellings and temples.Just as with these better researched structures,langqiao must be studied not only from the perspective of architecture,but also anthropology,geography,history,and sociology,among other disciplines.Rather than being abandoned as artifacts from the past,China’s langqiao today represent a living tradition that continues serving rural communities as places of passage,spaces for leisure and marketing,sites for worship,and increasingly destinations for tourists in search of nostalgic connections with China’s past.The research presented in this article draws heavily from the authors’China’s Covered Bridges:Architecture over Water,a comprehensive book published in late 2019 in Shanghai and London by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press that will be distributed in 2020 by the University of Hawai’i Press.Despite the scope of this book,the complexity of China’s langqiao remains understudied.
