To village or not to village

Elevated view of a courtyard house in Beijing

After having a discussion with my dissertation adviser about my proposal it was suggested to me to maybe change the overall outcome of what I was producing. He explained to me that the main point of modular assets is that they can be relatively small but create something with great complexity. Although I was proposing to make an ancient Chinese temple with courtyard, this would not require that many modular assets to complete. Furthermore once I had completed the models, they wouldn't have much reusable value, which completely goes against the whole point of creating modular assets for level design. This then made me rethink about my total outcome and bring me back to an idea that was mentioned within a previous meeting, and this was to create a small Chinese village from modular assets.

From images and diagrams from 'The World Atlas of Architecture', houses and temples are made using the same techniques architecturally. Although they are not so flamboyant, they use a lot more enclosure space and white walls. Red timber skeletons are still a huge feature, although they are not so obvious as the temple. Clay tiles are also a common feature as are the way the buildings are organised, through my research I have found that symmetry is used throughout the whole of Chinese architecture through the construction as well as the orientation and positioning of each building. This is because the Chinese believe in 'balance' within their daily lives.

Also with the creation of a Chinese village I also have the opportunity to make my own smaller temple for the village. As the Chinese are highly religious in their culture, most or all villages have their own temple, be it large or small. If I have time I could also create a small Buddhist temple from the modular assets also. A house in China are simple forms, the majority of houses have courtyards joined onto their houses or even the house surrounds the courtyard. There are no windows on the outside walls, but only on the inside facing the courtyard, this also ties in with the south facing gate, this technique stops cold prevailing wind from the north. The only entrance to the house is often a small gate or fence facing south.

The size of a house is often dependant on wealth, size and the taste of the family, but generally a House compound will have an inner courtyard. Below is a few diagrams showing the basic layouts of many house designs throughout China, this is also similar to how I would hope to design my own assets.