Applied Mechanics and Materials
ISSN: 1662-7482, Vols. 353-356, pp 2817-2821
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.353-356.2817
© 2013 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
Online: 2013-08-08
Modern and Traditional: Smart Improvements of the Traditional Tibetan
Architectural Materials and Security
Chaoping Hou1,a, Haorui Wu2,b
1
Urban and Rural Development College, Sichuan Agricultural University, 288 Jianshe Street.
Dujiangyan, Sichuan, 611830 , P.R.China
2
Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T2E8,Canada
a
[email protected], b [email protected]
Keywords: Post-disaster Reconstruction, Tibetan Architecture, Traditional Building Material and
Technology, Improvement
Abstract. The Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes damaged local Tibetan traditional buildings
dramatically. With the unique geographical characteristics and religious significance of
traditional Tibetan architecture, post-disaster reconstruction should inherit the local people's
collective memory and create a positive, intimate space, so that the victims could envision their
original homeland. Therefore, with the premise of respecting local customs and traditions, this paper
argued that applying advanced disaster-resistant construction techniques and materials into building
design could improve the security and stability traditional buildings, as well as highlighting its
regional characteristics.
Background
The Greater Tibet Area Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes in the Greater Tibet Area, located on the
Tibetan Plateau, is a disaster prone area and crosses four provinces or autonomous regions in the
northwest and southwest of China, and its unique social and natural environment attract tens of
thousands of domestic and international tourists every year. Since 2008, two main earthquakes, the
Wenchuan earthquake (7.9 magnitude on May 12, 2008) and the Yushu earthquake (7.1 magnitude
on April 14, 2010 ) as well as several aftershocks and secondary disasters destroyed the local social
and natural environments, while severely interrupting residents’ daily life. Fig.1 shows the locations
of Wenchuan earthquake [1] and Yushu earthquake [2] in the Greater Tibet Area. Immediately after
the two main disasters, the Chinese central government launched post-disaster reconstruction
projects, which requested some provinces with better economic conditions throughout China to assist
in the reconstruction of villages, towns and cities in the quake-hit areas in order to assist in the
recovery of local residents, at least to pre-disaster levels.
Fig.1 Locations of Wenchuan earthquake and Yushu earthquake in the Greater Tibet Area.
Natural disasters cannot be avoided, but many nations must face post-disaster reconstruction. How to
take advantage of the disaster, however, has been become an international problem. The quake-hit
area located in the west of China has the lowest GDP per capita. Hence, the aim of
government-oriented post-disaster reconstruction was to utilize the opportunity of reconstruction to
promote local economic development.
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Advances in Civil and Industrial Engineering
Issues
After the disaster, the central government requested some provinces throughout China to assist in the
reconstruction of the quake-hit area. In order to relocate the earthquake survivors rapidly and
smoothly, all the sponsoring provinces sent their own designers and contractors with advanced
technology and modern building materials. Within about one year, most survivors moved into new
housing. These modern buildings, however, were not harmonious with the local social and natural
milieus. Many survivors complained that they could not find a sense of home in the new community
because most of them were designed by non-local designers and built from imported construction
materials.
The conservation of local cultural heritage was considered as the first and foremost principle in the
reconstruction stage by the central government because cultural heritage is the foundation of national
development. Meanwhile, the unique geographical and climatic characteristics of the Tibetan
Plateau--cold, arid, and windy with plentiful sunshine--considerably affect the local built
environment in architectural style, structure, construction methods and landscaping. During their
long period of using the local space, inhabitants have already obtained much valuable experience
changing their social and physical environment. Meanwhile, such useful experience, often described
as their social and individual memories, could be offered as rather significant resources for officials,
urban designers and contractors involved in the reconstruction and related issues.
Therefore, this paper proposes to demonstrate local traditional architectural design and construction
methodologies from the local residents’ collective memories regarding their original hometown.
Furthermore, this paper argues that new advanced technology, combined with traditional building
methodology, could improve the quality of newly built structures, as well as rejuvenating local social
networks, and maintaining local cultural diversity.
Research Methodology
The main research methodologies selected are interview and participant observation. In terms of the
interview, the target interviewees include the local senior dwellers, skilled local traditional builders,
local government officials and local feng shui masters because they all have abundant experience
regarding how they use space and construction activities in their daily lives. Moreover, participant
observation offers the researchers valuable opportunities for personal participation in the construction
activities, which could help them figure out the advantages and disadvantages of traditional
technology and design methods. On the other hand, in such activities, researchers could more vividly
envision the possibility of combining advanced technology and methods with traditional ones.
Improvements:
The researchers travelled to Xiaojin county, Sichuan province and Yushu county, Qinghai province
after their respective earthquakes struck. It was observed that clay and wood are the most commonly
used materials in local buildings. Fig. 2 displays traditional building materials of the Tibetan
architecture in Sichuan province [3] and Fig. 3 expresses traditional building materials of the Tibetan
architecture in Qinghai Province [4]. Wood is used for structured parts, such as pillars and beams, or
decoration. Walls are usually built of very thick clay to resist cold weather. Meanwhile, clay is also
utilized as a waterproofing layer on the rooftop. This kind of building, however, is better at resisting
vertical pressure rather than horizontal shaking caused by earthquakes or other types of earth
movement. Even worse, local survivors stated that some extreme weather, such as storms and
downpours, hit their region immediately after the earthquakes. The clay, mixed with rain or snow,
changed into mud covering the rubble, causing more deaths, blocking almost all the air, so that
victims under the ruins died from suffocation.
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Due to the weakness listed above, improving the structural integrity of traditional buildings, as well
as protecting their unique cultural characteristics, has become a crucial issue for all designers. After
conducting the interviews with participants of local construction activities in the quake-hit area, the
researchers proposed to use advanced technology and traditional materials to improve the safety of
traditional buildings in the following aspects: building foundations, walls and roofs.
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig. 2 Traditional building materials of the Tibetan architecture in Sichuan province.
Fig. 3 Traditional building materials of the Tibetan architecture in Qinghai Province.
Foundation Improvement
Foundations are the fundamental part of any building, being the first area to be damaged in an
earthquake. Hence, foundation improvements should consider location, form and structure.
Location: Most Tibetan architecture is located on a plateau with altitudes over 3000 meters in areas
with plenty of rain. Hence, housing should be built on sun-facing, dry and shallow slopes in order to
decrease water erosion and landslides caused by loosened soil. Meanwhile, buildings should avoid
being built on the unstable rock layers and special edaphic environments such as frozen, swelling or
extremely soft soil.
Form of foundation: Tibetan architectural foundations usually choose rubble masonry structure with
low bearing capacity and poor integrity. Thus, during any long-term reconstruction stage, flexible
foundations should be considered due to their excellent bearing capacity and integrity to resist
earthquakes.
Strengthen the structure: Stone and rock, with outstanding bearing capacity and integrity, are easily
collected local materials, and should be considered as structural materials. Furthermore, adding stone
and rock into the basement would be advisable for improving the integrity of the entire structure.
Wall Enhancement
The wall is the critical supporting and protecting part of the Tibetan architecture. Since wood and clay
are the two dominant local building materials, any improvement work begins from this fact.
Get started from clay: Clay is made from earth and water. The ratio of the two materials decides their
strength and other qualities but cannot be easily controlled by locals. Furthermore, researchers found
that some local stone and sand could be added as extra ingredients in order to enhance the clay’s
mechanical properties [5]. Furthermore, the length of windows should not exceed a third of the entire
wall length. The area of the windows in the load bearing walls should be less than 20 percent of the
entire wall area. Hence, small windows are suggested so that the integrity of the walls and building
could be improved. Additionally, with regards to the structure, the number of pillars could be
increased somewhat in accordance with the master plan layout of the building.
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Focus on wood: Wood usually works for pillars and beams in Tibetan buildings. The fact is that most
Tibetan residential buildings are two stories. In this case, some buildings were completely built of
wood. Excluding its outstanding quality for earthquake resistance, this kind of full wooden building
has other merits, being lightweight, sound-proof and thermally insulating. Furthermore, fir trees grow
extensively on the Tibetan plateau, and are greatly appreciated by local people for their many positive
characteristics, such as straight texture, aromatic odour, insect and corrosion resistance. When it is
applied to the structure, the horizontal cut shape is best for pillars, and the rectangle is best for beams,
due to their mechanical properties.
Roof redevelopment
Common roof styles of Tibetan architecture include the flat roof, which is made of wooden beams
and clay (Fig 4. Flat roof building [6]) and the pitched roof, which is built with wood and tiles (Fig. 5
Pitched roof building [7]). No matter which style is utilized, its heavy weight was the primary
contributor to structural collapse during the earthquake. Improvements will focus on how to decrease
the weight of the roof itself.
Fig 4. Flat roof building
Fig. 5 Pitched roof building
In terms of the flat roof, corn stalks or other kinds of plant stalks, which have a very light weight,
could replace the most of the clay, only leaving it as a thin waterproof layer. Meanwhile, the A-Ga, an
ancient, traditional building material with first-class thermal and aquatic insulation, is highly
recommended because local people have abundant experience regarding its use in construction. Fig. 6
[8] and Fig.7 [9] shows the local dwellers are participant in the construction of A-Ga. The researchers
realized that almost every adult resident had previously participated in this kind of construction
activity.
Fig. 6 The processing of A-Ga.
Fig.7 The processing of A-Ga.
Discussion and Conclusions:
The Chinese government pays great attention to the preservation of Tibetan architecture. However,
under the short-term and massive projects of the post-disaster reconstruction, in order to allow all
earthquake survivors to have warm homes and normal lives as soon as possible, some reconstruction
projects could not completely consider local cultural backgrounds, so that these newly built structures
did not contain enough local architectural characteristics. The local skilled builders, however, have an
abundance of experience regarding the building of such structures. This paper proposed some
solutions to advance their building experience with the aim to improving structural security.
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Admittedly, modern technology and materials have many merits and are extensively used. Some local
technology and materials, however, have their own advantages, which could not be replaced by more
modern ones. Furthermore, local methods and technology are the result of experiences of local people
for many generations and thus more easily accessible to them. Therefore, the improvements and
suggestions presented above, aim to demonstrate some economical and highly efficient methods to
assist local reconstruction while maintaining their own unique architectural characteristics.
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the Young Foundation Program, Education Department of
Sichuan Province, P.R. China (12ZB099) and Key Program, Technology Department of Sichuan
Province, P.R. China (2012GZZ005).
References
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[2] Information on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yushu_earthquake
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[4] The figure was photographed by the authors.
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[6] The figure was photographed by the authors.
[7] The figure was photographed by the authors.
[8] Information on Tibet.cn
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Advances in Civil and Industrial Engineering
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.353-356
Modern and Traditional Smart Improvements of the Traditional Tibetan Architectural Materials and
Security
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.353-356.2817