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Algorithmic Architecture in Twelfth-Century China: The Yingzao Fashi

In: Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future

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  • Andrew I-kang Li

Abstract

The Yingzao fashi (Building standards) is a Chinese building manual published in 1103, written by architect Li Jie (d. 1110). Li’s approach was rule-based, reflecting a tradition in which knowledge was transmitted orally in the form of easily-remembered procedures. For instance, the method of determining the characteristic curved roof section, called juzhe, is a two-step process; Li’s first rule was to use modular units, the absolute values of which varied according to the rank of the building. This has led to the Yingzao fashi being called a “grammar book of Chinese architecture.” The use of a formal tool, shape grammar, makes it possible, for example, to understand juzhe as a recursive algorithm and, indeed, to propose a completely generative definition of the Song architectural style. The work can be extended to comparative formal studies of extant Chinese buildings and a second “grammar book,” the Gongcheng zuofa zeli (Structural regulations), published in 1733.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew I-kang Li, 2015. "Algorithmic Architecture in Twelfth-Century China: The Yingzao Fashi," Springer Books, in: Kim Williams & Michael J. Ostwald (ed.), Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 389-397, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-00137-1_27
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00137-1_27
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