Research on the Change Process of Curved Roof of Chinese Ancient
Architecture by System Dynamics
Chen Yu, Class 1 Grade 3 High School Affiliated To Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China, 210003
Yao Yugin (teacher), High School A ffiliated To Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China, 210003
1] Review and set forth the problem; Discuss on what the systems thinking can
do; search for the law of thought of the conclusion
Chinese ancient architecture is unique in the world architecture systems and the roof form,
which pictures a curve full of aesthetic sense, ends with sprockets, and dances with graceful
melody are the most eye-catching one Fight
among all constitution parts. (Fig1.1, Tang
Dynasty-Palace of FoGuang Temple in
Wutai Mountain () Figl.2, Qing
Dynasty-Imperial Ancestral Temple in
Beijing).
In general, the roof of wood structure
is larger and “ There’re many chalets in wood structure in Europe villages, .though the roofs
seem to be larger than those in China, the roof and the eaves are not curved.” How is this roof
form developing? Some agree that it’s convenient for daylight and drainage and others suggest it
is only for aesthetic. The above explains sound to be reasonable, but “ A formation of an
architecture which is a formed style should have a long
time practice and contains many factors such as material,
structural form, construction technology, function require,
aesthetic sense and so on. So does the larye roof of ancient
architecture.” If only the explain on one or two specific
angle is given, the conclusion will be relative powerless
and absent of cogency.
It can be found that the law of thought in which the
prior people discuss on this problem places emphasis on
feature of one time and one place of the buildings and is
static, linear, single and facial, so this law of thought can’t
reflect the change process and inward kinetic of
architecture and we can’t do more closely research on economics, sociology, aesthetics
background and value which are included behind this form process. This will be a pity.
So we should concentrate on the problem that how these factors, which force the curved roof
of Chinese ancient architecture, percolate and translate mutually. From the angle of logic, this way
belongs to the research field of system dynamic discipline.
The view of system dynamics transfers the heart of this problem to the research on inner
power of change process and checks the develop status of one building by figure: the arise of
some architecture system could be a random trial of a architect completely and is accidental and
not directional, but it can be very popular and with strong vitality because this building style has
many fitness such as solidness, practical, economic, graceful and so on. The above view can be
compared with “vitality” in biology by analogy, just as several deer that arrive at one place
accidentally may become a great number and stable population on the basis of natural and
Figl.2
anthropic factors. (This analogy will be shown in the following word again.) Study on this fitness
could give us some cognition on the general law of human behavior.
Though the roof form is fixed for every building, it is changing time after time for an
architecture system. Let’s put this change into the History River and uptake its whole process with
a “quick shot”.
2(]Establish frame and model of system dynamics; Survey on the variable factors
The official buildings are the main study objects for in order to make more definite discuss
center. Because the hierarchy of Chinese ancient buildings is very perfect, the official and civil
buildings were developing each through two different ways, which both tightly link and
distinguish mutually. The depth of civil buildings could not be more than seven frames and use
Chinese hip-and-gable roof and Chinese hipped roof, so the development space of curved roof is
not enough. On the contrary, the official buildings could be with no limits and display the curved
roof fully. By the way, the discuss time in this paper is limited from East Han dynasty (about 1*
century) to Song dynasty (about 12" century) which is the period of “appear to mature” for curved
roof.
Here the center of the problem is “the development degree of curved roof”. There’ re two
meanings for the word “degree”, one is to show how the “crook” form be more obvious
(longitudinal); the other is to show the
a | wdggpeat Ki strucé noldup 2 universalize degree of this form (transversal). So
I will build two stacks to show them in the form of
Ae RUTH ae figure. Four parameters around the stack are two
Ht popularity deg
input flows-“aesthetic judgment promotion” and
@ practical promotion” and two _ output
practical promotion 2 economic holdup 2 flows.structure holdup” and “economic holdup”.
asethetic | wagement 1 structure holdup 1 These four values summarize the default factors,
@ 2 which affect building form comprehensively. The
model is shown in Fig2.1.
tHe roof cr ee
uth Setar ee Structure means the safety and solid
@ rat > +€9 requires of buildings (maximal moment and shear
practical promotion 1 economic holdup 1 in beam mainly) and the limit of material
character.
Fig2.1 Practical means whether the roof form could
bring convenience to daylight and drainage.
Aesthetic judgment means the visual impact and mind identify, in the other word, the
spiritual needs and following creation desire.
Economic means construction cost and material choose of the building due to structure
change.
When the compositive effect of four flows on stacks is considered, there must be one
“container” to contain these different flows to ensure that these four flows be connected tightly. So
this container, two new central stack, means building scale and experience accumulation of
construction.
Roof, not an air castle, is developing both relatively independent and of very close linkage
with the whole building, particularly with the building scale. “Scale” is the most direct effect in
the develop process of architecture system and offers develop space for change of roof form.
While the experience accumulation, which is relative perpetual, shows the potentiality in
architecture field with both innovate and fogyism and shows
the general society progress. Experience
accumulation is the source of architecture
development, and structure, practical, aesthetic
and economic are all the extrinsic factors of it.
A further explain is that “experience”
is the direct input value of “scale” to show
the global effect of “experience” which is
shown in the right graph (Fig2.2). !
The computation formula during holdup 1
discussion is: Holdup (promotion)
flow= Holdup (promotion) factor x
central stack value
Structure factor 2
This formula can be compared with 4 asethetic factor 2
the one used for population breed in ¢*?f''ence
biology by analogy: input flow=birth ratex ©
@tic factor 1
7
ure factor!
aesthethc promotion 1
ructure holdup 1
1 hej roof crook degree
experiefice value
PED exherienc
Tucture hol dup 2
about the effect of promotion flow in the gqularity degree
stack of “popularity degree”, the procedure of
“promotion” is: at first there are 100 houses 5 s¢ti
using the curved roof. Then there will be 100
X 20% (20% is the promotion factor) = 20 more practical factor? economic factor?
houses using the style because they are encouraged by the
promotion flow. Next time, there should be (100+100 x 20%) Fig2.2
X 20% more houses using the curved style... cycling like this.
Holdup (promotion) factor is a coefficient, a description for every factor’s change in abstract
mean, to note importance of one factor and set up some comparability among different fields.
The “popularity degree” and “the roof crook degree” both have some inner relationship with
each other. If the roof becomes more curved, it may be more attractive and this will make more
people to follow the style; but if it’s too curved, the public may consider it spoilt and reject it. This
will be shown in the “aesthetic judgment flow” of the “popularity degree” stack.
3{] Discuss all factors from every side; Relation among all factors.
3.1 Experience
It is the basis for all the discussion.
For Chinese ancient architecture stem, innovation value fogyism value
Experience” , which develops not in form of
invariable linearity just as time and information explode in
index grade, forms a specific character of “growth in S Fig3.1
style” with both active innovation and negative j qnovation rate fogyismrate
fogyism. Active innovation means comprehension of material use, ability of construction and
pursue desire of graceful building form that are deposited slowly during the long history. Negative
experience
fogyism could fix one building form, but it also limits the creation so that the building system
tums to be aging irretrievably. The traditional culture and thought law in china are “respecting
ancient and attaching importance to tradition”, “ not going back on ancient law”. So the more
accumulated, the more resistance will be faced during creation.
In model (Fig3.1), Experience is central stack, “Creation” is input flow, “conservation and
forget” is output flow. The formula is:
innovation (fogyism) flow = innovation (fogyism) ratex central stack.
The base number of experience value is 100. The value of innovation rate is a constant
number-0.2, and the fogyism rate is the exponential type function of experience value. The input
of related data shows in Fig3.2. [i-o00
Then we can draw the potential oe
trend of experience accumulation.
(Fig3.3)
If this figure is in comparison Paginas
with the practical experience which rate
accumulated in Chinese ancient
buildings, the “experience value” of
each dynasty can be given which will
be involved in discussion of “Scale”[]
before East Han dynasty (before 1*
century):100; East Han dynasty to
“Three Countries Period” (1 century
to late 3“ century):160— 280; Jin dynasty to “south and north
dynasty period”(4" century to late 6” century):100—160; Sui F932
dynasty and Tang dynasty (7 century to 10" dynasty):280— 400; Song dynasty (late 10" century
to13" century): staying at about 400 steadily.
experience
B® 1: experience
1.00 3.88 6.75 9.63 12.50
Pagel . Century 23:58 20050 30 160
aaF ? experience
Fig3.3
3.2 Scale
As a cartier, scale itself develops unceasingly on the basis of experience guide. The action
of experience guide is more complicated, that is to say, there’s not a direct ratio relationship
between experience accumulation and building scale. Because the four factors which are
controlled by experience—practical, economical, structural and aesthetic judgment functionate.
The system graph is shown in Fig3.4. (There’s subscript 0 added to each factor to distinguish with
the other factors in the below paper): structure holdup 0 practical promotion 0
The computation formula is alsof] x re) 1)
Holdup(promotion)flow= factor 0
Holdup(promotion)factor X central structureactor 0 scalig
stack value = ae heticpromoti on 0
& 2)
“Factor practical 0” here is a
constant, because for human the scale
need is also the space need, so for official buildings,
this demand is endless and have no limitation of
" economec holdup 0
experience
aesthetic\factor 0
experience
experience. economic factor 0
As to the structure, our ancestor invented “Hangtu”
technology during the period of the Xia, the Shang and the
Zhou dynasty (the 21% century BC to 2" century BC). They could build huge terraces and high
walls. This technology is quite simple and easy to practice. The materials come from the very
process of the construction. The above two facts render the construction of large building possible.
Two important features, wooden framework and “Dou gong” also began to appear in this period.
In the Han dynasty, with the three basic types of Chinese traditional wooden framework coming
into form, people could build independent, large, multi-storey wooden mansion. The two types are
Fig3.4
Tailiang style Fig3.5 Chuandou - style
“Tailiang” and “Chuandou” (Fig3,5). The technology of wooden framework became mature and
steady in the Wei, the Jin, and the South and North Dynasty. It reached a new height and became
comparatively perfect in the Tang and the Song Dynasties. The size of materials and the design
have been unified according to certain standards. The last but not least important, art and
technology combined in the archeology. The value of “structure-factor 0” gradually decreased.
This falling process was slowed down when the great terraces eventually faded out from the
history in the Han and Wei period, and multi-storey wooden mansion became the main form of
great building. It is a big challenge.
As to the economy, ancient govemmental buildings seemed to have no serious financial
problems, not to mention the imperial buildings. Royal people never care about how much it costs.
Thus the “structure-factor 0” started on a very low level and went down constantly. However there
is another serious contradiction, that is, large amount of wood is cut down and many forests are
destroyed (as the poetry says: “Shushan Mountain becomes bald when Epang Palace is built.”).
Huangtu plateau, the traditional ruling center, is originally abundant of wood resources, but such
resources have been used up and its forests were completely destroyed till the Sui and the Tang
Dynasties. Thus, when Emperor Wu Zetian in Tang Dynasty wished to start a large constructional
project, people had to transport wood from “Jiangling”. The wood for beams and pillars could
only be taken from south China. In their own place (north), they can only find inferior wood of
mulberry and willow and so on. The lack of wood resources is bound to greatly restrict the scale
of building. Thus “economic factor 0” will greatly rise up.
In terms of aesthetics, great building, with its magnificent outlook, conveys an unparallel and
overwhelmingly impressive air. For the governmental building, its scale is usually the symbol of
power and rank, the emblem of order of cosmic, the embodiment of dignity of rites and the
psychological premise of their reign. With the accumulation of experience, their residence is the
larger; the better----especially after the centralized government is established. According to history,
Xiao He, a senior official in Han Dynasty, once took charge of the construction of Weiyang Hall.
It is recorded that “when the emperor saw how magnificent the hall is, he thought it’s too
luxurious and became very angry... but Xiao said to him: ‘Your majesty, since you are the nuler of
the whole nation, without such a magnificent palace, neither your greatness and grandeur nor our
reverence to you can be demonstrated, and no evidence will be left to your offspring to sing high
praise of you.’ Hearing these words, the emperor was pleased.” Isn’t such psychological
motivation one of the great impetuses for the ever-increasing scale of buildings? Aesthetic impetus
keeps on increasing and lastly stabilizes at a quite high level. In the Tang Dynasty, art and
technology finally blend with each other perfectly. However, in the following Song dynasty, the
system of wooden framework highly maturates. Simultaneously, because the empire itself isn’t
strong and is frequently invaded at its border. The aesthetic psychology tends to be more
introversive and rational. Thus the curve of aesthetic impetus goes down.
Here the value of each factor is given, the trend of each value is on the basis of dynasty that
is represented by experience and very agrees with actual history. (Fig3.7) The transverse
comparison among each factor can be shown here: Aesthetic judgment is equal to structure in the
Tang dynasty and economic is equal to structure also in the Tang dynasty which is poor of woods,
and finally, the two most unessential actors- aesthetic judgment and economic tum into the most
vital factors, Maybe it’s the inevitable law of history .
The change of four factors is shown in Fig3.6:
1. 000 . 1. 000
economic
factor 0
aesthetic
factor 0
lo. 000 i it pot poi o.o00 |
i oy me i _qo a
Va fioo.oo fazo. 00 B 100.00 [420.00
experience experience
— The drawing of scale value is Fig.3.8.
1. 000 sus thn tewnat reed tered nest nd It can be seen from the figure that the
structure}. !
factor 0
fo. 000 F a ,
than the “Gaotai” (large scale) buildings which
Be 100. 00 was blooming, such as the mega-setback
— anperiaaee: building with 80m each edge in the center of
Wang Mang temple.J]
Fig3.6
S. practical facto 2: aesthetic factot) 3: economic factor 0 4: structure facto
1 1 =
2 1
3 5 i
4 f) —— oa
1 1
2 ob
i '
1 0 ER LZ
} ' a
4 0
1.00 3.88 6.75 9.63 12.50
Page 1 7 Century 23:58 © 2008930 160
aaF ? comparison of the four factors
Fig3.7
Ss l: scale
1 1s
1 135
Ll |
t 95
1.00 3.88 6.75 9.63 12.50
Page 1 : Century 23:58 © 2005030 160)
BaF ? scale
Fig3.8
developing of building scale is full of zigzag
with the accumulation of experience. There’ re
some history examples, for instance, in this
drawing the first peak and consequent low
valley stands for the blooming and decline of
the large scale buildings.] The wood palace in
“Three Countries Period” dynasty was smaller
3.3 The roof crook degree
We should also discuss the four factors of " practical, economy, structure, appreciate
beauty", these discussions are all established on " scale"
(Because they are mostly concerning with the appearance of
the house), and at the same time these practical promtief1 structure hol dup
discussions are relatively opposite and
independent. The mode diagram is in Fig3.9 practical #¢tor 1 the
(There's subscript 1 added to each factor to .
distinguish with the other factors): @ mak ©
. aesthetic promotion 1 economic hgldup 1
The formula of computation:
The value of obstruction( promotion) = the
obstruction( promotion) factor central stack
practical factor 11 structure factor 1
aesthetic factor 1 economic factor 1
The function of “practical promotion” here is already no
longer needed as the pure space which has been discussed in the _Fig3.9
section of 3.2. Theoretically saying, for the house which hold
certain scale, the roof change from “flat surface” to “curved surface” can with easy to adopt the
light and drain: the roof jacks up, will not make the eaves that stretch outside hold up the person's
view, and house inside also can accept the more sunlight; The rain water is flow by the ridge, can
tush out at the eaves that jack up farther, eased the degree that the house body which had be
poured and avoided leaking. But “practical factor 1” is weak when compared to the factor going
with the space need which discussed in the last section. The curved roof reduce the indoor space,
and the ray that accept is after all limited, Professor Lou Qingxi even thinks: "The whole roof has
been wet by rain at the same time ...... the phenomenon of the rain to rush out from the roof
almost can not be seen.” By the way, “practical factor 11” is a function of the roof crook degree,
so in fact, the “practical promotion” is a biflow, that’s to say, if the roof crook degree is too large,
the factor will be below zero, being a block to the increase of the degree.
The influence on the structure mainly as follow: One, when the roof has been changed to the
curved face that can influence the stability of the wood frame. Because of the curve, the weight of
tiles and the rafter should be increased and on the other hand the weight of the pillar should be
decreased, so actually the increase of whole weight is not very distinct. In the beginning, in the
structure of lift beam wood frame, the beam had been designed to subject the moment, because of
the large span (can amount to more than six meter), which also should bear more moment and
shearing force, with the appearance of the structure of through-jointed form, the beam use only to
connect different parts of structure, the influence of the increase of the roof weight is extremely
minute. Two , the roof is also under the influence of itself, someone thinks when the roof changes
to the flat surface, the timber can easily distorted by the rain and the sunlight, but with the
construction of buildings, they detected that the warp of the curve face roof is also very distinct]
For the flush of the rainwater, it means to increase the vertical load of comnice but to decrease the
load of ridge of the house, so the total influence is also not very patent. Three, it is about the
construction difficulty; to make the roof flat surface is relatively easy. Colligate the above
discussions, the “structure factor 1” is also weaker, but when the scale has been enlarged, the
structure factor should also been enlarged.
Taking the economic aspect into account, to make curve face can save the timber of the pillar
but increase the timber of the rafter, two aspects counteract each other, the whole affect is not very
obviously (but totally saying that still increased the timber). The key is that the dosage of the
glazed tiles increased, because of the officer buildings usually use the glazed tiles; the cost
certainly will be higher. This condition had not changed until Song dynasty, because the yield of
glazed tiles increased very much and the breed of the decoration tiles became much more
abundant, so the price problem was not outstanding. This is a resistance function, which decreases
gradually; certainly the scale increment can enlarge this influence.
The most complicated is the function of appreciate beauty. The roof plays as a higher part in
the whole building system, its appearance mainly influenced by the complexity of people’s
mentality on appreciates beauty. Because of this, delineate this kind of mental trend directly is
very difficult, might as well" appreciate beauty" to be seen as a central stack, its value and each
factor of front meaning homology.
This stack value is affected by both promotion and holdup factor. The computation formula
is]
Holdup(promotion) flow=Holdup(promotion)factor X central stack value
The drawing of model is shown in Fig3.10.
The accelerative factors include: 1.
Vaunting mentality of rich and powerful people.
Since city became flourishing after the Song Dynasty,
plenty of tall buildings were built by magnates strive
to be the first and roof driven up showed display P'omtipn factor holdup factor
while glass tile looked magnificent and jewelry by
added roof slope. 2. Beautiful consideration of
relaxation and lifelikeness in architecture field. Huge <::\ 5
volumes of roofs bring lines rigidified formally and make ponderous and depressive but curved
surface roofs show lighter and blander. 3. Desire of creation. The ancient architecture workmen
were suppressed firmly; so they abreacted their innovation only by such alter. 4. Mental catering
for the Chinese ancient traditional philosophy. Curved surfaces symbolize harmonious, intelligent
and grandiose while lines hardly express. In the above four factors, 1 and 2 can regard as functions
of scale values, while 3 and 4 are stable relatively.
The impeditive factors include: 1. Conservative concepts, as
promotion holdup
aa
aesthetic faNor 1
Fig3.10
Aesthetic Holdup
discussed in the chapter 3.12. Sense. Things will develop in the scion factor
opposite direction when they become extreme. That is, when roofs 0.100 9.050
curve to certain extent, the above accelerative factors will bring the 0.150 0.055
0.200 0.060
oe 0.250 0.064
0.300 0.068
0.350 0.070
0.400 0.075
0.450 0.080
0.500 0.090
0.055 0.100
0.600 0.150
' ‘Too 5 C75 36 T250 0.655 0.190
8aF 2 oe messens 9.700 0.200
Fig3.13 Fig3.11
inverse.
The data is Eronionion
shown in Fig3.11, Scalevalue Factor! Factor2 Factor3 Factor4 factor
3.12: 100 0.001 0.02 0.015 0.02 0.056
I think the 105 0.002 0.022 0.015 0.02 0.059
simulative figures 110 0.003 0.024 = 0.015 0.02 0.062
are reasonable 115 0.003 0.027 0.015 0.02 0.065
because there is 120 0.006 0.033 0.015 0.02 0.074
two history facts 125 0.013 0.035 0.015 0.02 0.083
can state them. The 130 0.019 0.037 0.015 0.02 0.091
first fact is that the 135 0.03 0.04 0.015 0.02 0.105
first ascend 140 0.05 0.05 0.015 0.02 0.135
pinnacle represents 145 0.07 0.06 0.015 0.02 0.165
the rise of aesthetic 150 0.08 0.07 0.015 0.02 0.185
concept (that is
Fig3.12
metaphysics and Buddhism philosophy) in the Wei
and Jin Dynasties. The concept breaks through the fetter of the Han Dynasty’s scripture and
ceremony so that the art style alters consequently.
The second fact is that the final ascend trench
represent the mentality of rich and powerful people affect architecture form due to the rise of
magnates in the Song Dynasty.
On the basis of above discussion, the value of other factors can be given in Fig3.14:
0. 200
practical
factor 1
fo.400 fs
economic
factor 1
j0. 000
i a
I
[25.00
the_roof_crook_degree
pom
| Tor 4 mare fl 1
Va) roo co foo
weale
fico. oo
170.00
a)
We can see the development of “the roof
crook degree” in Fig3.15
scale
Fig3.14
BB i: the coat crook degree It can be
; al seen from the
trend graph
il ali that the crook
degree of roof
1 4 = is
Es
strengthening
and becomes a
consequential
trend after a
: Too 3.88 6.75 9.63 12.50 Jong time. This
Page 1 5 Century 23:58 © 2008930160
aaF ? the roof craok degree degree can be
quantized by a series of given values.
Fig3.15
10—15, the curved roof is not obvious; the technology is not mature; no rule for the crook
degree.
15— 20, the curved roof is fairly obvious; the technology develops a lot; no rule for the crook
degree.
20— 25, the curved roof is very obvious; the technology is almost perfect; many people
consider it a necessity to give a mule for the crook degree.
Above 25, the curved roof is perfectly obvious; the technology is perfect; a strict rule for the
crook degree.
0 Fig3.16: The crook form of all kinds of roof{]
—~....
Double-eave Chinese Double-eave Chinese Chinese hipped roof Chinese gabled roof
hipped roof hip-and-gable roof
Fig3.16
practical factor 2 structure factor 2
3.4 The popularity degree
We have already explained the development
of the curved roof from the angle of “the curved crook
degree”. It’s about the shape. Now let’s tum to the
discussion of the popularity of the curved roof,
which has something to do with the psychology.
economic factor 2
Fig3.17
the roof crook degree
ll
It’s a complicated procedure that the social members accept a style of architecture. Some
factors can be the promotion flows while some others are the holdup flows. Quite similar with the
discussion in 3.3, we use a stack named “popularity degree”. But how the four factors have
influence on the “degree” is a little different. As “popularity” is more concerning with psychology,
we make “economic factor 2”, “structure factor2” functions of the value of “experience”. It’s
shown in Fig.3.17.
As to “practical”, we can find that the demand of “practical” is a steady value according to the
discussion in 3.3.
“Structure factor 2” is a function of “experience value”. As experience accumulates, the
holdup effect gradually decreases, and the falling process at first is more and more quickly. But
when prior people tried to unify the design according to certain standards, roof, which is an
important part during the trial, needed to be explored hard. So the falling process of “structure
factor 2” will slow down.
As to “economic”, the change process of “economic factor 2” is quite similar to that of
(0. 200 0.200
aesthetic structure
factor 2 factor 2
0. 200
Va 10.00 Jeo. 00 B jioo.co jaoz.oo
popularity_degree experience
aesthetic}.
ronente factor 21
factor 2
0.000
a)
experience the_roof_crook_degree
Fig3.18
“economic factor 1”, being influenced by the yield of glazed tiles and the wood supply.
The effect of “aesthetic judgment” is also very complicated. We have already analyzed why
12
the curved roof looks beautiful in 3- 3. So here I divided the “aesthetic factor 2” into two parts.
One is affected by the roof crook degree straightly: as the shape of the roof becomes more and
more mature, the popularity will be larger. So “aesthetic factor 21” is higher at first. But if the
shape is completely mature, the “vitality” of “aesthetic judgment” won't so “fresh” as before.
There will be more rations. Then “aesthetic factor 21” will fall down. Another (aesthetic factor22)
is that the popularity can adjust itself. When most people accept it, some others prefer the new
style. They want to change. This kind of creativity belongs to everyone. Then the “aesthetic factor
2” will be below 0. However, this “creativity” didn’t defy the former of the curved roof completely.
This also proves that only a simple factor cannot decide the appearing of a phenomenon.
According to the discussions above, we can offer the data. (Fig3.18)
The change process of “popularity degree” will be shown in Fig3.19.
SD © sopuiarity degree
1 65
1 40
| Le |
it 15
1.00 3.88 675 9.63 12.50
Page 1 : Century 23:58 2005930160
a2F ? oooooo
Fig3.19
This has told us that the trend of “popularity” is, before Han dynasty, the curved roof was rare;
at about “south and north dynasty” period, it was fairly popular in some certain area; after Tang,
Song dynasty, the curve style was very popular in official building (Fig1.1, Tang Dynasty-Palace
of FoGuang Temple in Wutai Mountain is a good example). The popularity then reached a
balance.
41) Some other words
Using the Stella software, we have a try on explaining the former of the curved roof of
Chinese ancient architecture by system dynamics view: the factors we call “structure”, “practical”,
“aesthetic judgment”, “economy” affect each other. The trend of the using of the curved roof was
increased a lot at first, and then reached a balance eventually. As I’m a high school student who
really enjoy the world of architecture, the explanation itself has caused and satisfied my interest of
a kind of research. But something more important is that I have cemented an opinion here: in our
world, physical and mental (we call it a system), so many social phenomena exist under the
control of different basic factors. It’s more complicated than we expect most of the time. Luckily
the system dynamics view makes us face the complicating world in a deeper, wider sight, and
retrace the procedure of its former and change. Then we can make sense of world better. So this
kind of try has encouraged me a lot.
13
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