Evaluation and Renovation Strategy of Buildings in Mountainous Towns from the Perspectives of Nature and Culture: Taking Ciping Town, Jinggangshan as an Example

Xuanming CHEN, Qi LUO

College of City Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

Abstract In recent years, as a new growth point of China’s economic development, small towns are under construction in full swing[1]. But with the rapid expansion, many problems that the city scholars and builders think about have emerged. The problems in the construction of small towns are mainly reflected in the over development of capital, insufficient understanding on culture, deviation of construction strategies, etc. In many small towns, there is an imbalance between the volume and color of buildings, the architectural form is single[2], and the expression of local culture is insufficient. From the perspectives of nature and culture, the architecture of Ciping Town, a mountainous town, is evaluated. In view of the problems found, this paper puts forward its thinking on the buildings in this type of small towns, so as to provide some reference for the development of architecture in this type of small towns.

Key words Mountainous town, Nature, Culture, Architectural evaluation

1 Introduction

In the past few years, although the construction of small towns in China has made great progress, most of them are built blindly. In the final analysis, they mostly choose to match the big cities and take the road of urban development. In fact, from the perspectives of nature and culture, small towns have many different characteristics from cities. For example, natural factors account for a larger proportion in the elements of small towns, and the culture of small towns is more characteristic. Because of these characteristics, the construction of small towns, especially the construction of buildings, has its own development path[3]. However, due to the influence of many factors, there are some deviations in the way of exploring the development in small towns. For example, Wentang Town in Jiangxi Province has brought rapid development to the town due to the attraction of its hot springs and surrounding scenic spots. As it complies with the characteristics of "ancient town", the architecture adheres to the traditional style and features. However, due to the unrestrained development of real estate, the density of urban buildings has increased rapidly, and the landscape pattern has been greatly affected. Under the upsurge of urban beautification movement, the expression of local characteristic culture in many cities and towns is simply defined as the traditional "Ma Tau Wall" form, and there is no difference in the "traditional" transformation of the buildings along the street[4].

From the perspectives of nature and culture, the volume, color and form and architecture in Ciping Town were evaluated, and renovation strategies for the problems found were put forward, with a view to improving the construction level of Ciping Town and other mountainous towns.

2 Concept of small town in mountainous area

The so-called small mountainous towns are a class of towns defined by natural elements, such as mountain, river and lake. Mountainous town covers a wide range. It can refer to the town where the mountain occupies a certain proportion of the urban landscape, and can also mean that the topography of the town reflects the undulating characteristics of the surrounding mountains[5]. Mountainous towns are divided into two types: near mountain and surrounded by mountain.

Small town near mountain, as the name implies, is not in the mountain but close to the mountain. The landscape of this type of towns is greatly affected by the mountain[6]. In small towns in Jiangxi Province, Wentang Town of Yichun belongs to this type. The terrain of Wentang Town is flat with little fluctuation. But in the south, there are many mountains surrounding the town, and people can see them in the open area of the town.

Different from small towns near mountains, towns surrounded by mountains are in the mountains. The urban landscape is greatly affected by the mountains, while the urban terrain fluctuates greatly[7]. Ciping Town in Jinggangshan belongs to this type. Ciping town is located in the Jinggang Mountain, where mountain traces can be found everywhere. At the same time, the topography of the town fluctuates greatly. The average altitude of the town is 841 m, and the maximum altitude difference is greater than 20 m.

In general, small mountainous town refers to the town where the mountain element occupies a higher position in the town’s elements. Due to the characteristics of mountainous areas, small towns are bound to be greatly affected in terms of terrain or environment, which is a difficult point in the construction of architecture and even the whole small towns. However, if these features are well handled or even utilized in the construction process, it is also an important opportunity to form the characteristics of small towns.

3 Evaluation on architecture from the perspectives of nature and culture

3.1 Evaluation on architecture from the perspective of natureThe evaluation of architecture in this perspective is mainly from the perspective of whether the building is compatible with the surrounding natural elements. Taking the mountain as an example, first of all, it is "seeing the mountain in architecture", which is also the first level of architectural evaluation from the perspective of nature. This level requires that the building should not completely cover up the surrounding natural elements. In the form, the building can’t completely block the mountain. Specifically, this is mainly to analyze the building volume, and whether the building can make its own volume beyond the requirements of surrounding natural mountains. Then, it is "architecture echoing with mountain", which is a deeper level of evaluation. This paper analyzes the architectural form and mountain and studies whether the ups and downs of architectural form are consistent with the undulating lines of surrounding mountains. Finally, it is "integrating architecture in mountain", which is also a deep-seated evaluation, to investigate whether the color of the building and even the building material are in harmony with the surrounding mountains. Through these three aspects, whether the building adapts to the surrounding mountains is evaluated.

3.2 Evaluation on architecture from the perspective of cultureThe architectural evaluation from this perspective mainly starts from the local culture, including two evaluation levels of cultural heritage and cultural understanding.

The inheritance of culture in architecture is mainly reflected in the understanding of traditional architecture in architectural form, whether modern architecture has inherited the elements of traditional architecture with contemporary characteristics. For example, in many small towns, the historical heritage of architecture to culture is only reflected in the local architecture with traditional architectural elements, without further consideration of whether the local architecture contains these architectural elements or further exploration of the most distinctive traditional elements of the local area.

On the other hand, it is the evaluation of the architecture’s understanding of local culture, whether the local architecture expresses the local culture well. Taking Ciping Town, the object of this study as an example, we should focus on analyzing the expression of red culture, the local characteristic culture in architecture, and evaluate its understanding of local culture based on a comprehensive analysis of the expression methods of red culture in the town’s buildings.

4 Case analysis of Ciping Town

4.1 Overview of Ciping TownCiping Town is located at the foot of the main peak of Jinggang Mountain. The town is basically a mountain basin with an area of 20 km2. The internal terrain presents a fluctuating situation, with high vegetation coverage. Due to the mountainous terrain, the landscape of the town is well arranged, with lush vegetation. The overall landscape pattern system is relatively complete. Therefore, Ciping Town is known as "garden town" and a world-famous tourist and summer resort. The average altitude of Ciping Town is about 841 m. It is surrounded by mountains. The hills in the town are undulating, and the buildings are built along the mountains, giving people a unique rhythmic beauty. The landscape level of the park pool is rich, and the spatial change is obvious.

Ecological characteristics are the base of Ciping Town. The unique red culture is visual symbol of Ciping. As the base of the red revolution in those years, Ciping town still exudes the unique charm of red revolutionary town up to now.

4.2 Evaluation of architecture in CipingIn terms of Ciping Town, the most amazing thing is the landscape and architecture, which is also the unfortunate thing. The impression of Ciping Town in Jinggangshan is mostly a town famous for its "red" culture, and the only landmarks are Mao Zedong’s former residence and Jinggangshan Museum, as well as the torch and red flag structures and other "red" signs. But if we observe Ciping Town from the natural perspective, we can get more details of the exhibition of a "red" mountainous town in the regions south of the Yangtze River.

4.2.1Advantages. Mountain terrain is undulating and construction is difficult. However, if the buildings are arranged according to the terrain, the buildings are built around the mountains and the roads go around the mountains, the disadvantages of construction can be changed into the advantages of scenery, shaping the unique topography and layout of the region. Some regional buildings in Ciping Town are built according to their own topography, creating a very diverse landscape perspective.

Taking Huangzhuao Road as an example, the southeast side of the road is Nanhu Lake, which has a certain height difference with the road surface; meanwhile, buildings on the southeast side are generally below six floors, so that the view corridor on the southeast side of this road is not blocked by other buildings and people can see the mountain on this side. The buildings on the northwest side are close to the road, and there are many dense plants on the slope in front of the buildings. A large number of step green plants along with the increase of slope block the ground floor of the buildings and buffer the oppressive feeling brought by architecture to human vision. The buildings in this area are just in front of the hillside. The viewing height of pedestrians walking on the road is 1.5 m below the building base. If the building height reaches more than seven floors, pedestrians on the road can only see part of the mountain through the cracks between the buildings, greatly reducing the charm of this area.

Before the turning point of Huangzhuao Road, there is a steep slope. This area is covered with green plants freely, and there are few artificial traces. After walking up the mossy stone steps to the top of the steep slope, the sight suddenly opens. On the platform of bluestone slab, there is a traditional building with black tiles and overhanging eaves. In the thick fog, facing Nanhu Lake and leaning against the fence, poetic flavor inspires. However, the huge volume of Nanhu Hotel in the distance blocks the mountain outline which should be the end of the line of sight, so that the sight of this section of road has been blocked by this huge building. But at the end of the road, it can be seen that the waterfall formed by the high-rise flows into the Nanhu Lake. With the gallery on the water, it still forms a good landscape.

The reason why this area exudes the charm of mountainous city is analyzed from the architectural elements. First of all, the building volume is properly controlled, and the building height is controlled below five floors. From the point of view of "seeing mountain in building", the buildings in this area keep a less than 50% block of the mountains. On the other hand, there is a large space between the buildings, and the height of the buildings fluctuates to a certain extent. From the perspective of "architecture echoing with mountain", it is also a good state. Finally, the architectural colors are mainly cyan, white and gray, supplemented with black, which are in harmony with the colors of the surrounding natural environment. Along with dense vegetation, it fully shows the beauty of landscape architecture.

4.2.2Shortcomings. In most area of Ciping Town, it’s hard to appreciate the landscape. This problem is mainly caused by the uncontrolled height, volume and density of buildings, which leads to the block of sight corridor in most area. In the rest of the area, even if people can see the mountains, the natural undulating line of the mountains is divided by a large number of horizontal and vertical building contour lines, causing the fragmentation of natural landscape.

When it comes to the large-scale buildings in Ciping Town, you can’t get around a lot of hotels, such as the Hengshan Hotel and Jiahua Hotel in the middle section of Lanhuaping Road. The two buildings are located at the high point of the steep slope of Lanhuaping Road. A platform is built at the front door of the buildings, about 20 m away from the buildings. The mountain behind is 30 m high relative to the two buildings. The two buildings have 10 floors and are about 30 m high. People on the platform can’t see the mountain at all, let alone the view at the lower point of the road. In addition to height, the volume and shape of Hengshan and Jiahua buildings are not conducive to the integration of the regional architecture and natural landscape. The plane of Hengshan Hotel is 80 m wide, while that of Jiahua Hotel is 60 m wide. Such a span of mountain buildings has no any change in height, like a cottage in front of the mountain, making the whole area dull, lacking the vivid flavor of mountains and rivers.

In addition, the large number of hotels occupies a lot of construction land in Ciping Town. As a mountainous town, the construction land of Ciping Town is small due to the terrain constraints. The local residents have limited land for construction. A lot of people raise money to build a seven and more-storey houses. As a result, there are a large number of buildings with more than seven floors in Ciping Town, producing great influence on the natural landscape sight corridor of Ciping Town.

5 Architecture based on classical aesthetics: Enhancement strategy of mountain outline

"Mountain contour" refers to the mountain contour formed by the continuous fluctuation of the skyline inside the town and the surrounding natural mountains. As the natural background of mountainous towns, it is the primary feature of this type of towns. At the same time, it is also one of the important basic elements of the formation of urban skyline landscape. Creating a highly recognizable mountain contour line for a small town, which is smaller than a city, is conducive to local residents’ judgment of their own space and further improvement of identification of the urban interior. Because of this importance, in the characteristic construction of small towns, it is necessary to focus on this element. Specifically, we can start with the outline of mountain body to highlight the classical aesthetics through architecture.

5.1 Core mountain determination and building controlFirst of all, the architecture maintains the integrity of the contour of "background mountain". The background mountain refers to the mountain range that connects with the outer contour of the town and has a high altitude. In the classical context, it is generally called "main mountain". As the old saying goes, the main mountain should be towering. This means that the volume of the building opposite the main mountain must be strictly controlled, avoiding visually reducing the towering feeling of the main mountain. The skyline formed by the building is called "guest mountain" relative to the main mountain. According to the theory of subject and object in classical aesthetics, the guest mountain should tend to the main mountain, that is to say, the outline of the building should conform to the outline of the main mountain. At the same time, the color of the building should be similar to the color of the "background mountain". In this way, the building will not appear abrupt.

5.2 Comparison of subordinate mountains and buildings

Subordinate mountains refer to the hills and small slopes extending from the mountains to the town, as well as large ups and downs in the town. These hills are lower than the main mountain, and they are failed to form the visual focus of the whole area. The mountain shape is generally lack of characteristics. Therefore, it is easy to ignore the embodiment of this type of mountain in the construction, which makes the building too close to the mountain. In the face of this situation, in addition to the requirements for the form, volume, color,etc. of buildings, more importantly, it needs to "leave blank". That is to say, the buildings which are not different from the mountain volume will "seize its potential" if they are too close to the mountain. So, for the inner mountain, a limited construction area should be designated. In this area, open space can be constructed to further optimize the landscape characteristics of subordinate mountains.

Through the appearance of architectural form orientation based on classical aesthetics, it can better integrate the relationship between mountains and buildings, allowing small towns to build their own characteristic buildings.

6 Conclusions

This paper analyzes the architecture of Ciping Town from the perspective of nature, evaluates various elements of the architecture, and puts forward renovation strategies for the architecture. But in the analysis from the perspectives of nature and culture, the description of the elements of local buildings is not detailed enough, so that the depth of analysis needs to be strengthened. It is hoped that this can be strengthened in the future.