Abstract:The idea of“being with rules yet no specific models”is considered essential in Chinese traditional garden art. Chinese traditional garden art focuses mainly on the flexible utilization of the essential rules, and is opposite to copy the already existing models. This paper focuses on the Zhi Garden from the Ming Dynasty in Changzhou, and the masterpiece of garden art theory, Yuan Ye. Ji Cheng, the author of Yuan Ye was active around the same period when the Zhi Garden was constructed. The paper analyzes the laws and rules of architectural arrangement in Ming Dynasty gardens, and their flexible utilization. Yuan Ye elaborates how to follow the regulations of the rules and how to flexibly use them to achieve novelty in the chapters of“Xing Zao Lun (introduction)”, “Li Ji (setting the bases)”and“Wu Yu (the buildings)”. The design of Zhi Garden is an embodiment of Ji Cheng’s theory in Yuan Ye. The main halls and gates of Zhi Garden follows the rules of regulation. Yet the pavilions, studies, corridors of Zhi Garden show a novelty achieved by flexible use of the rules. As a result, the Zhi Garden archives harmony by balancing the arrangement of buildings following different strategies. The discussion of the links between the garden and the book helps us to understand throughout both the design theory and aesthetic ideas of the Ming Dynasty gardens. The result also provides a reference for today’s garden design practice.
黄晓,戈祎迎,周宏俊*. 明代园林建筑布局的奇正平衡 ——以《园冶》与止园为例[J]. 新建筑, 2020, 38(1): 19-24.
HUANG Xiao,GE Yiying,ZHOU Hongjun. The Balance of Regulation and Novelty in the Chinese Garden in the 17th Century: A Study of Zhi Garden and Yuan Ye by Ji Cheng. New Architecture, 2020, 38(1): 19-24.