How were the mansions of ancient people laid out?
The main architectural style of ancient people’s mansions was the courtyard house. The courtyard consists of several basic elements: the gate, the reverse seat, the main room, the wing rooms, and the surrounding walls. These elements are combined according to the principles of the quadrangle to form a quadrangle.
Siheyuan generally faces south, with the main door opening in the southeast corner, opposite the southern gable of the east wing. On the west side within the gate is the courtyard. Among them, the main house is located in the north of the courtyard, facing south. The inverted seat is located in the south of the courtyard, facing north. There are wing rooms on the east and west sides. Fences are used to fill the gaps between buildings. There is a patio in the middle, and the whole is connected by a corridor.
In a courtyard house, the main house occupies the first place. There are usually three rooms, the middle one is called the Ming Room, and the two sides are called the Second Room. There are ancestral halls and Buddhist halls in the Ming Dynasty, where the owner and his family gather. The secondary room is generally used as the owner’s bedroom and personal activity space. The wing rooms on the east and west sides are the residences of the children and grandchildren, and there are often three rooms.
Behind the main house is the back room, which is basically the same length as the main house. However, the depth is narrow and the number of rooms is not consistent with that of the main house. The back room is generally used to store sundries or as a maid's residence.
The reverse seat faces the main house from the north to the south, and the doors and windows of the reverse seat open to the north. The number of rooms on the reverse floor is not consistent with that of the main house, but the pillars on the reverse floor cannot be opposite to the door of the main house. The inverted seat can be used as a living room or as a living room for a valet.
The courtyard in front of the main house is the main courtyard of the courtyard. It is a continuation of the indoor space. It is a resting place for the owner and his family, and a place where major events are held.
Extended information:
Siheyuan is called Sihefang in history. According to archaeological research, in the late Xia Dynasty of my country, buildings with the prototype of courtyards had already appeared. The architectural concept of the courtyard house is influenced by both the humanistic spirit and the natural environment. Among them, the humanistic spirit is related to the well field system in ancient my country.
The well-field system is a land system in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In layman's terms, a square or rectangular field is divided into nine equal parts, each of which is one hundred acres. In the middle was the lord's land, which was public land in the parlance of the time. The remaining eight shares were divided among eight households of peasants, each of which was also 100 acres. When farmers farm, they plant public land first and then cultivate their own land.
According to the ideas and planning principles of the well field system, the concept of the royal city was born. Simply put, the royal city was planned into nine equal parts, with the palace city standing in the middle, and the remaining eight parts were planned as lanes and markets. This city-building concept, or the idea of the well-field system, also influenced the design of the courtyard house.
People's Daily Online - The architectural layout and living culture of Beijing courtyard houses