| |
| The surrounding area of Tai Lake has an intensified water network. In this region, a distinct type of settlement form emerged which has an intimate relationship with water network. This paper take Kaihsienkung as a case study, which is a typical village in this region and also a well-known village since sociologist Hsiao-tung Fei published a book about it in 1939. By this study, our study try to start a dialogue with sociologists, explaining the evolution mechanism of the village from spatial point of view, especially the implicit rules in the transformation process of its public space system.
By the methods of behavior investigation, site survey, archival research, morphological and syntactic analysis, the authors want to explore what are the main factors responsible for the evolution process of public space and different impacts of these factors. This paper is constitued by three parts. The first part depicted both the physical and social transformation of the settlement, especially its expansion, the shift location of shops and the movement flows. The second part applied morphological and syntactic analysis to uncover the spatial structure of this village in the 1930's and now. It was done in three dimensions by both axial analysis and angular segment analysis. (1) A comparison of the road network spatial structure in 1936 and in 2011; (2) A comparison of the location of spatial core in the water system network, road system network, and a combined network of the two; (3) A comparison of the "Vehicles Road System" and "Only for Walk System" in the current village. These quantitative analysis showed us the different degree of impact from the road, water and highroad network respective. The third part explored the two fold relationship between the spatial network and social phenomenon.
There are four main findings and reflections from this research. Firstly, this case study again illustrated the classical argument in space syntax theory on the relationship among spatial configuration, movement flow and land-use. Secondly, by syntactic analysis, we provided quantitative and objective evidence for the common believe in Chinese academic world, that the spatial logic of the village and towns in Tai Lake valley has undergone a dramatic shift from "attracted by water" in the early 20th century to "attracted by road" currently. Thirdly, we found the competition between public interest and private interest manifested itself very clearly in the transformation process of this village's public space system. Finally, we found in many aspects, the Angular Segment analysis can better describing the spatial structure of Kaihsienkung. Whether Angular Segment model can better depict the spatial structure of a settlement with curving waterfront than the traditional Axial model need further study's examination. |
|
| Keywords:Method and theory of Architecture design; Tai Lake valley; Village; Public Space; Syntactic Analysis |
|
