Folk Residence in Sichuan-Chongqing Region

Sichuan-Chongqing region is located in the southwest of China and has enjoyed a long history in its culture. It is an area that is densely populated and has a precipitous terrain. Hence the residences in Sichuan-Chongqing region are linked across the uneven terrain. In terms of the building s layout, there is still the existence of the axis in the main complex of the house-as in most traditional buildings in China-but not so for the secondary complexes and the courtyard.

The houses in this region are built to adapt to the physical features of the land. And there are a few distinctive features:

Terrace: this is applied on steep mountainside, where a level shelf of land interrupting a declivity is constructed, like a flight of steps. The houses can thus be built on the terraces. And from afar, is an amazing sight to behold.

Balcony: applied to narrow space in a terrain for the purpose of expanding the space of an interior, usually for a room at the second level. Additional space is created by adding a balcony to the selected room.

Steps: applied on the portion of a hillside where it is flat the house is built perpendicular to the natural incline of the slope. This is usually used in building a residence s side rooms.

Slope: houses are also built perpendicular to the incline of the slope. Used on a hillside that is not as steep as the one for steps . This is solely to separate the floors of the interior of the house into different heights.

Annex: this involves extending the back of the roof and creating annexes to the existing house. This is usually used to extend the space of the side rooms. The annexes built may become much lower than the existing side rooms.

Hanging room: as it is difficult to increase the depth of the house when building it on a slope, a room is added by having it built to suspend or hang off from a room in the upper level to create more space. The hanging room can also function as an awning for the entrance located at the ground level. Such hanging rooms can be found in Chongqing, near the Yangtze River, or along the cost of Jialing River.

source: Chinese Architecture, published by China International Press