Quantifying the Spatial Evolution of Bai People’s Courtyard Houses

Bai People’s courtyard houses in the rural parts of China’s Dali area are a particular type of Chinese courtyard house, adapted to local culture and conditions. These dwellings were constructed in vernacular tradition up until the 1980s but underwent significant changes in the following decades. The goal of this study is to examine the evolution of the spatial structure using quantitative data, and relate it to changes in the social culture of the inhabitants. Three vernacular and three contemporary cases in the village Gushengcun are compared. To enhance understanding and examine the idea of evolutionary change in architecture, the concept of a Spatial DNA is applied, building on a metaphor of the biological DNA. It uses Space Syntax techniques and links numerical values of integration and space type to functional information. Findings show that the integration of the courtyard and bedrooms is decreasing, and space types indicate a change from rings to sequences. In contrast, the kitchen space integration is increasing. These results reveal parallels to changes in the means of subsistence, social structure of the family and conceptions of privacy: Decreasing spatial centrality of the courtyard - once a key space in the processing of agricultural produce - coincides with a shift from work in the primary sector to secondary and tertiary industries. Modern conceptions of privacy and individualism replacing the family as a unit of privacy are related to the segregation of bedrooms. The change in the spatial location of the kitchen is interpreted in the context of abolished gender separation and the changing role of women. This study hence provides measurable evidence to the links between space and culture in an intertemporal comparison of dwelling types.