The Mathematics of Historic Chinese-Built Heritage: Syntactical Properties and Implications
摘要
Chinese architecture and design have a rich history of mathematical interpretation and scholarship. In this chapter, a series of Chinese-Built Heritage (CBH) works are analyzed using a range of techniques, centered on space syntax analysis (see Chapter “Space Syntax: Mathematics and the Social Logic of Architecture”). The case studies have been selected across a wide range of scales, from individual heritage buildings to historic Chinese towns that have significant social and cultural importance. While understanding and preserving these historic environments and sites has been an important research and conservation topic both in and beyond China, there is a lack of systematic and mathematical analysis of historic Chinese-Built Heritage in the field. This chapter adopts a space syntax methodology to survey and categorize the mathematical properties of CBH. This chapter is divided into three parts: In the first, space syntax measures are applied to analyze the spatial and mathematical configuration of CBH cases. In the second part, space syntax is combined with other methods, including design grammars, geographic information system (GIS), and graph neural networks to further enhance the analysis. Utilizing those results, the third part explores how mathematical insights developed (through techniques such as multiple linear regression, geo-detection, and spatial autocorrelation) from these heritage cases can be used to generate new designs (i.e., agent-based simulation and parametric design, etc.) and inform future scholarship and practice.