Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1-1-2002 A passage from past to future: a Chinese ancient science museum Zhe Hu Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Recommended Citation Hu, Zhe, "A passage from past to future: a Chinese ancient science museum" (2002). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 19884. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/19884 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A passage from past to future: A Chinese ancient science museum by ZheHu A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE Major: Architecture Program of Study Committee: Robert A. Findlay (Major Professor) Thomas Leslie Steven D. Kawaler Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2002 Copyright© Zhe Hu, 2002. All rights reserved. ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the master's thesis of ZheHu has met the thesis requirements of Iowa State University Signatures have been redacted for privacy 111 For Xin and my parents IV TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I. PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................ .4 1.1 Background Discussion ............................................................................... .4 1.2 Thesis Research ...................................................................... .-..................... 5 Pre-Thesis Design Process Thesis Design Process 1.3 Thesis Design ............................................................................................... 8 1.4 Definitions and Terms .................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW & RESEARCH ................................................ 12 2.1 The City ofBeijing ........................................ .................................... ......... 12 The Ancient Capital The City in Modem Time The Struggle between the New and Old 2.2 Scientific Revolution - Thomas Kuhn ...................................................... .22 2.3 Unweaving the Rainbow - Richard Dawkins ............................................ 30 2.4 Ancient Theories - Poetic Solution ............... ............................................ 35 V Dao and Yin Yang F engshui and Qi CHAPTER III. CRITERIA & PROGRAM OF THESIS DESIGN .................................. .44 3 .1 Design Philosophy .................................................................................... 44 3.2 Program of Thesis Design ......................................................................... 51 3.3 Design Process .......................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER IV. DESIGN SOLUTION ............................................................................. 57 4.1 Site and General Design Concept ............................................................ 58 4.2 Wall- Yang ............................................................................................. 69 4.3 Courtyard- Yin ....................................................................................... 74 4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 84 . APPENDICES ................................................................................................................... 88 Vl LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Diagram of design process before the thesis research .......................................... 6 Figure 2. Diagram of design process after the thesis research ............................................. 7 Figure 3. Map ofBeijing .................................................................................................... 12 Figure 4. Bird's-eye view of the Forbidden City ............................................................... 13 Figure 5. Diagram of ancient theories applied in different fields ...................................... 34 Figure 6. Painting on Qi of earth ...................................................................................... .40 Figure 7. Chinese celestial planisphere ............................................................................. .41 Figure 8. Diagram of study and proposed solution on culture rupture ............................. .48 Figure 9. Beijing's hutong (l) ............................................................................................ 57 Figure 10. Beijing's hutong (2) .......................................................................................... 57 Figure 11. Aerial photo of city center of Beijing ............................................................... 60 Figure 12. A typical commercial area in downtown Beijing ............................................. 61 Figure 13. The movement of Qi at the design site ............................................................. 61 Figure 14. Site plan ............................................................................................................ 63 Figure 15. Ancient Observatory (1) ................................................................................... 63 Figure 16. Ancient Observatory (2) ................................................................................... 64 Figure 17. Ancient Observatory (3) ................................................................................... 64 Figure 18. Ancient Observatory (4) ................................................................................... 65 Figure 19. Hybridized texture of old and new ................................................................... 66 Figure 20. Existing urban texture ....................................................................................... 66 Figure 21. Beijing in my painting ...................................................................................... 67 Vll Figure 22. Prototype study of urban texture and initial concept.. ...................................... 68 Figure 23. Perspective from the east side of Ancient Observatory .................................... 69 Figure 24. The wall of Ancient Observatory ..................................................................... 69 Figure 25. A typical spirit wall in Beijing ......................................................................... 70 Figure 26. Design concept sketch (bird's-eye view) ......................................................... 72 Figure 27. Diagram of Yin and Yang of courtyard in the design ...................................... 73 Figure 28. A Chinese garden (l) ........................................................................................ 74 Figure 29. A Chinese garden (2) ........................................................................................ 74 Figure 30. Beijing courtyard housing ................................................................................ 74 Figure 31. Sketch of study of city walls ............................................................................ 7 4 Figure 32. Diagram of theories of walls ............................................................................ 76 Figure 33. Scientific analysis of the scale of courtyard ..................................................... 76 Figure 34. A traditional painting that shows the "void" of courtyard ............................... 77 Figure 35. Analysis of "view corridor" in the design ......... ............................................... 78 Figure 36. The astronomic instruments in Beijing Ancient Observatory .......................... 81 Figure 37. Design perspective from southwest.. ................................................................ 83 Figure 38. Design perspective from southeast. .................................................................. 83 Figure 39. 2nd floor plan ................................................................................................... 89 Figure 40. 1st floor plan ...................................................................................................... 90 Figure 41. Section .............................................................................................................. 91 Figure 42. Perspective ........................................................................................................ 91 Figure 43. Diagram of the design process ........................................................ ................. 92 Vlll Figure 44. Peking opera ..................................................................................................... 92 Figure 45. Taking birds for a walk. ...................................................................................