case-study.doc

Combination of Vernacular and Modern Building Materials and Construction Methods in Ningbo Museum,

Yizhou China to Achieve Sustainable Design Features.

Table of Contents Page

Abstract............................................................................................................................2

1.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................

1.1 Overview of Ningbo Museum………………………………………………………3

1.2 Research Question………………………………………………………………….4

2.0 Materials Used....................................................................................................

2.1 Vernacular Chinese Architecture Materials...................................................5

2.2 Ningbo Museum Materials.............................................................................8

3.0 Construction Methods Used.................................................................................

3.1 Vernacular Chinese Architecture Construction Method...............................11

3.2 Ningbo Museum Construction Method........................................................13

4.0 Sustainable Design Concept................................................................................

4.1 Achieving Renewable Design Concept.......................................................16

4.2 Achieving Low Cost Design Concept..........................................................17

4.3 Achieving Innovative Design Concept.........................................................18

5.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................19

6.0 References..............................................................................................................20

ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 1



Abstract

The purpose of doing a study of the combination of vernacular and modern building materials and construction methods in Ningbo Museum, Yizhou China to achieve sustainable design features is to identify the difference and at the same time using both advantages to counter the disadvantages and create a perfect design. China has always been a country with a very long history of architecture, thus choosing the right materials to design a building is very crucial. By finding out the building materials of both the vernacular and modern Chinese architecture, we can find out how Ningbo Museum will be able to achieve renewable design, and at the same time achieving both low cost design and innovative design in terms of the material chose. In assisting the validation of research, literature reviews based on various sources regarding vernacular Chinese houses and modern Chinese architecture were conducted to enhance the process. Of all the architecture and buildings located in China, the pit houses built beside The Yellow River during the Hwang Ho civilization, the Fujian Red Brick House in Quanzhou and the Wa Pan technique truly show the architectural style and methods during their own respective era. In conclusion, materials used in both vernacular buildings and modern buildings have their own pros and cons. By combining all the advantages of the materials together, sustainability design can be achieved even in the modern world, and this will be an innovation not just to the modern world, but also to the coming future.




1.0 Introduction

1.1 Overview of Ningbo Museum, Yizhou China

The Ningbo Museum is an important landmark of Ningbo Yizhou China, a land

full of history, culture and custom. Ningbo Museum was done in 2008 by the famous

architect Wang Shu, winning the Lu Ban Prize for this building.

The design concept of Ningbo Museum is to remind the city people about the

beauty of Ningbo’s olden days. Where there were mountains and sea bringing

everyone together, starting this civilization. Therefore the design of Ningbo Museum is

like a huge mountain sitting quietly in the middle of the Ningbo city. The special of this

architecture is the material and the construction technique where Wang Shu had used

back Vernacular Chinese Architecture at the same time combining the essence of the

modern architecture. Making Ningbo Museum stands out from other architecture in this

modern era.

This research paper is conducted about Ningbo Museum, Yizhou focusing on the

relationship between vernacular Chinese architecture’s and modern architecture’s

building materials and techniques. Thus the research topic is, ‘Combination of

Vernacular and Modern Building Materials and Construction Methods in Ningbo

Museum, Yizhou China to Achieve Sustainable Design Features.’




1.2 Research Questions

This case study paper will investigate on the building materials and construction

methods of vernacular Chinese architecture and modern architecture based on the

following questions:

Question 1: What are the similarities between building materials used in Vernacular

Chinese Architecture and Modern Architecture, Ningbo Museum?

Question 2: What are the similarities between construction methods used in Vernacular

Chinese Architecture and Modern Architecture, Ningbo Museum?

Question 3: How does Ningbo Museum achieve renewable design in term of material

used?

Question 4: How does Ningbo Museum achieve low cost design in term of material

used?

Question 5: How does Ningbo Museum achieve innovative design in term of material

used?




2.0 Materials Used

2.1 Vernacular Chinese Architecture Materials

2.1.1 Timber & Mud

Just like any other civilization, Hwang Ho civilization started out from the river.

The water is a human’s main source of living where both protein and water source are

from the river. Human started out hiding in the cave for shelter and protection but

slowly realizing a cave is just a temporary shelter human starts to build their own

shelter - building.

At the very beginning, human used whatever materials they could simply pick

up from the surrounding. Timber can be simply pluck down from trees and mud are

everywhere on the ground so they started out with these two materials. Timber is a

material which is strong, easily found and easy to work with. But with the limited

knowledge during that time, timbers are only used for building structures. They needed

something to wrap the whole building up, so mud was their choice. The characteristic

of mud is, it is shape-able, easy to work with, easy to found, and also giving the

building insulation from the cold weather outside. With the timber and mud material, the




pit house was produced. Timber as the pit house’s structure and mud as the wrap of

the pit house.




2.1.2 Red Brick

Bricks and tiles are one of the earliest man – made building materials. It is

widely used in every part of China but usually those bricks and tiles which are made

out of rammed earth usually comes in green colour. Min Nan ( 闽南 ), including

Xiamen(厦门), Zhang Zhou(漳州), Quan Zhou(泉州), Long Yan Xin Luo(龙岩新罗), and

Zhang Ping(漳平), the bricks in these areas are different, it is red in colour.

No difference from green tiles, red tiles are also made out of rammed earth but

the process of making the tiles are different. When the red tiles are baked, it is put

aside to let it slowly dried off. Allowing the oxygen from the oven to have chemical

reaction with the substance in the rammed earth, producing red tiles. Whereas, the

green tiles are not put aside to dry off, cold water is poured onto the tiles immediately,

killing off the presence of the oxygen, thus creating green tiles. (Wang, 2004)

Red bricks and tiles are important pieces of China which carries a lot of

memories and the architect, Wang Shu choose to use it in Ningbo Museum, bringing in

memories to the architecture both physically and mentally.




2.1.3 Wa Pan masonry & Mortar

Wa Pan method is a technique where people used back fragments from the

scourge such as typhoons to build their destroyed houses, the technique will be further

explain later in chapter 3.1.

The material of the Wa Pan Construction method includes ceramic roof tiles,

terracotta tiles, ashlar masonry, brick block, stones and bricks. Any materials that can

be found after the typhoon will be taken up and placed onto the ruined ground and

pieces by pieces, people will build the house back up. Mortar as the binder is made out

of clay and mud, it is mixed together with water and binds layer of building fragments

together forming a house.

This way of building back a dwelling, saves both time and cost effectively as

people do not need to repurchase building materials and also this building technique is

a very fast process. By using Wa Pan Construction materials in Ningbo Museum, it

saves cost and also bringing back the traditional technique into the modern

architecture.




Vernacular Chinese Architecture Materials Features

2.1.1 Bamboo & Cement

In this modern era, architects tend to study and discover more on modern

materials such as steel, plastic sheet, glass and others but many seems to forget about

the traditional materials. As an architect who would like to combine the old and new

architecture, Wang Shu used bamboo as one of the main material in Ningbo Museum.

Bamboo is a strong, renewable and easy to work with material. Until today people

still use it as scaffold as it is strong enough to carry the weight and also recyclable.

Also in China, bamboo can be easily found thus it is the best material to choose for

Ningbo Museum. Wang Shu used the bamboo as the structure of the building and used

cement to cover over it. Firstly, cement is able to strengthen the bamboo making it a

stronger façade to the building. Secondly, cement acts as a binder, holding the bamboo

together. Thirdly a cement façade with a bamboo texture creates a very special and

elegant look for the museum.




2.1.2 Red Bricks & Terracotta Roof Tile

Ningbo Museum used the ‘Wa Pan’ technique which will be explain later in

chapter 3.1, where it is a technique collecting all the debris materials which came from

the building that were destroyed after scourges such as typhoons and quickly built it

back to provide shelter for the people.

Wang Shu designed Ningbo Museum as an architecture which is different from

other museum, instead of collecting sculptures, drawings and histories data or facts,

the architecture itself also collects stories. He looked for red bricks and terracotta roof

tiles from all the destroyed buildings, bringing all bricks by bricks and combines all of

them together using the Wa Pan technique.

The red brick is a very strong building material, even after scourges it still stay as

how it looks like and now standing on the façade of the Ningbo Museum giving itself a

new identity. While the terracotta tile, which is flat in shape making itself useful in the

making of Ningbo Museum façade as there are many holes to fill in and its flat shape

provides an opportunity to fill in the gaps.




2.1.3 Wa Pan Masonry & Mortar

Using the ‘Wa Pan’ technique, masonry such as the ashlar masonry, the brick

block, ceramic bricks and tiles are all used to create the façade of the Ningbo Museum.

All of the materials above are stacked layer after layer using mortar as the binding

agent.

Same as the red bricks and terracotta roof tiles, the Wa Pan masonry are also

collected from different destroyed old buildings, carrying history and memories of

different places. By using back these old materials, Wang Shu not only save the cost of

the construction also making good use of the advantage of the materials as it has way

better quality as it still remains its looks and strength after going through all the

scourges.




3.0 Construction Methods Used

3.1 Vernacular Chinese Architecture Construction Methods

3.1.1 Timber and Mud

During the Hwang Ho civilization era, materials that human could easily find was

timber and mud, therefore pit house was produced. Timber was used as the structure

of the pit house where else the mud as the covering on the timber structure. While

forming the structure, timber was placed into a semi-circular shape and tied onto each

other using (branches). Mud was mixed with some water and slowly shaped following

the timber structure’s shape.

Human’s construction methods during that era were limited therefore they do not

know how to produce a wall’s structure. So instead of building a building above the

ground, they dig a hole below and built the so called timber mud structure – roof above

the hole. The door of the pit house is on the top of the timber mud structure, therefore

producing this funny entrance as shown as the picture above.




3.1.2 Wa Pan Method

The Wa Pan method exist in China for a very long time, it is a traditional

Chinese construction method. It is widely used in places where scourges such as

typhoon happen frequently. During typhoon seasons, building will be blown down and

the people will lose their shelter. Therefore they invented this Wa Pan method, trying to

rebuild their shelter as soon as possible before the next round of typhoon coming.

Wa Pan Construction method includes materials such as ceramic roof tiles,

ashlar masonry, brick block and many more. Whatever materials that are blown down

from the previous building will be reuse and restack to form another wall to protect the

people from the scourge. All the materials mentioned above will be stack together and

bind together using mortar, layer by layer.

The advantage of this Wa Pan Construction method is that it save cost as the

people do not need to buy the building materials over again to rebuild the building

which will be blown down again by the typhoon. Other than that, Wa Pan Construction

method is a fast and easily done construction method. People will just need the

fragments from the destroyed buildings and mortar to rebuild their house, thus it does

not require a heavy job scope.




3.2 Ningbo Museum Construction Methods

3.2.1 Bamboo & Cement

Using the traditional timber and mud pit house as reference, the architect Wang

Shu used the same concept on Ningbo Museum but changing the materials. The

timber and mud pit house is one of China’s earliest methods of building architectures,

therefore the architect hopes to bring in this important building technique into the

museum.

Similarly, bamboo will be replacing timber as the structure and cement will be

replacing mud as the façade. Firstly, bamboos are placed next to each other, then

cement is poured on the arranged bamboo and a façade with a nature foot print is

produced. Although Ningbo Museum are mainly made out of steel and concrete,

bamboo still plays a very significant role in it as the concrete formwork in Ningbo

Museum are made of bamboo.




3.2.2 Wa Pan Construction Method

One of the main attractions of the Ningbo Museum is the Wa Pan Wall, it is a

traditional method where most people had forgotten its existence. To counter this

issue, Wang Shu had studied a lot and did many researches about it and had used this

technique for the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in year 2006, to make a clear

statement about village demolition.

Wa Pan Construction method had always been used for small scale buildings,

normally with a maximum height of three meters. For Ningbo museum, it requires a

height of twenty four meters, therefore it is considered as a very big breakthrough in

architecture. As technology gets better, people’s life gradually improves and slowly,

machine took over man - made items. At first, when the construction started, people

forgotten the way of building the Wa Pan. People with Wa Pan Construction knowledge

are chosen to build and they had to trace back at the photos which are found by Wang

Shu during the research.




Wa Pan Construction was never used in contemporary buildings, therefore a lot of

prototypes were produced and the final solution was to use Wa Pan Masonry and

mortar, tying back to a concrete linear panel. The compression strength of the masonry

is very weak, therefore a main concrete structure was placed behind the masonry

acting as the structure and also a weather barrier of the Ningbo Museum. An invisible

concrete ledger is integrated horizontally into the panel every three meters.




4.0 Sustainable Design Concept

4.1 Achieving Renewable Design Concept

Most materials used in constructions are obtained from finite resources which,

once exploited, can never be replaced. These are non- renewable building

materials, whereas in Ningbo Museum Wang Shu had chosen to use renewable

building materials.

Renewable building materials are basically organic materials that contain

carbon, it is flammable and also biodegradable. Renewable building materials help

saving energy and at the same time improving the comfort of the users.

Concrete, one of the main building materials in Ningbo museum is an excellent

material which creates thermal mass in architecture. In a four season’s country

like China, concrete helps to regulate its temperature, keeping it cool in summer

and warm in winter.

The Wa Pan masonry includes mud bricks, stone tiles and others that contains

high thermal mass. It helps to store and absorb heat, providing temperature

stability inside a building. It is also low in embodied energy, having good sound

absorption characteristic, water resistant, and it is easy to work with.

Bamboo, a strong, flexible and readily available material. It is very easy to work

with and also very light in weight making it easy to transport. With proper

treatment, bamboo can last a very long time, much like timber. It’s shock

absorption capacity makes it a great building material for earthquake resistance.




4.2 Achieving Low Cost Design Concept

Ningbo museum is a massive architecture with amazing façade and building

elements in it. Despite its mass, the building cost is actually not as high as

expected with such building outcome. As mentioned above, the main materials

used are steel and concrete. Those are easily found building materials and on top

of that, very low cost.

As for the bamboo cement wall, the materials are bamboos, which can be

easily found in YiZhou, China and cement which is a commonly used building

material. With this combination of two cheap and easily found building materials,

an elegant façade was produced. Bamboo carries the Chinese essence, making it

unique in the Ningbo Museum.

The Wa Pan Construction walls made out of collections of bricks and tiles from

every part of China, the fragments of building materials are collected therefore

minimum construction cost are used. The binding mortar is also made out of

Portland cement, which is a cheap and can be found easily from anywhere. By

using the fragments of building, it save costs and also creates a distinctive story

out of the wall of Ningbo Museum.




4.3 Achieving Innovative Design Concept

Innovative is introducing something new, ideas which are fresh and not a single

person had ever thought of. Ningbo Museum had included innovative design tools

in its design, creating something that’s new to most.

Wa Pan Construction method is a traditional building method which is usually

used in temporary dwellings, but in Ningbo museum it is built for a permanent

usage, this shows an achievement Wang Shu acquired that’s innovative.

A few years back, Wa Pan Construction which is made for temporary building

had never appeared on modern architecture, so when Wang Shu wanted to use

this method, he need to do a lot of research and prototypes in order to create this

innovation.

Wa Pan Construction technique prepared for temporary dwellings can usually

reach three meters in height, but in Ningbo Museum, the Wa Pan masonry

reached twenty four meters in height, simply with the help of concrete structure as

the support. With all these facts stated, we acknowledge that Ningbo museum is

the first ever massive architecture that uses Wa Pan Technique.




5.0 Conclusion

As a conclusion, the Ningbo Museum used a lot of traditional building materials

and construction methods in creating a modern architecture. With the use of bamboo-

cement construction method and Wa Pan Construction method, the museum

transformed waste materials into an environment permeated architecture full of

meaning, served as a reminder of village demolition while simultaneously presenting a

contemporary translation of traditional masonry construction. Wa Pan, once considered

a lowly material of the poor, is reinforced in a manner that permits it to function on a

scale demanded by contemporary Chinese standards. (Golden, 2012)




6.0 References

Golden, E.G. (2012).Sustainability 1: Traditional Materials Optimized for the Twenty-

First Century, presented at ACSA International Conference, Barcelona, 2012.

Wang, Q. (2004). Tu shuo min ju (Di 1 ban. ed.). Beijing: Zhongguo jian zhu gong ye

chu ban she.

Shan, D. (2004). Chinese vernacular dwelling. Beijing: China International Press.

History and development of ancient Chinese architecture. (1986). Beijing, China:

Science Press.

Sustainable by design 2050. (n.d.).Retrieved from http://sbd2050.org/project/ningbo-

history-museum-23/

Ningbo Historic Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Ningbo_Historic_Museum

Turnitin plagiarism check: 5%


http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Ningbo_Historic_Museum

http://sbd2050.org/project/ningbo-history-museum-23/

http://sbd2050.org/project/ningbo-history-museum-23/




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