Open House International

Hong, Ren; Peng, Wang; Weiguang, Cai; Dandan, Li; Yongjie, Du; Junqiao, Sun; Abramson, Daniel

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0001

Visitor center plays an important role in the normal operation and sustainable development of scenic spots, especially as a portal image of its management. This paper presents resilience theory for visitor centers to identify some common issues in designing visitor centers in China scenic spots, including the lack of function, loss of architectural characteristics, and difficultly in adapting to changes in the number of visitors with periodic variations. The framework of resilience theory was set from four dimensions, namely, resilience and match in the composition of ontology function, the extended function, integration of buildings into the surrounding environment, and alternative construction technologies and materials. This theory was explained and analyzed with the application of the theory in practice in combination with the design of Mount Hua visitor center. Results showed that resilience theory yields good application effect.

Mingman, Chen; Hong, Ren; Weiguang, Cai; Xiaohui, Li; Pengyu, Ren; Lee, Deson

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0002

Along with the acceleration of Chinese urbanization, urban history degrades at a rapid rate, and development follows formalism. Based on architectural typology, this study introduces a methodology of concept mapping and discusses the urban complex design method from a perspective of regional cultural elements. The theoretical analysis shows that concept mapping represents an integrated solution that incorporates regional cultural elements into architectural planning. Through the concept mapping method, it not only protects the physical environment, but also strengthens modern urban residents’ psychological sense of belonging to their own living space. Meanwhile, distinct regional cultural elements can be efficiently combined in the overall layout, monomer building design, building details design, and landscape design of urban complex by using different architectural design methods. This design method is validated using an actual case in Guizhou. Therefore, it forms a complete set of design method with a three-step framework, namely positioning cultural areas, summarizing regional cultural elements, and selecting the mapping method and combination mode.

Hong, Ren; Yongjie, Du; Weiguang, Cai; Xiaohui, Ma; Peng, Wang; Beibei, Qin; Mingman, Chen

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0003

With high-speed urbanization and strict requirements on energy conservation and environmental protection, eco-city has become the priority of urban development in China. Governments of all levels promote various eco-city planning schemes within a short term, but most schemes are characterized by randomness and subjectivity. To solve the lack of scientific pre-implementation evaluation for eco-city planning and improve eco-city construction quality, a systematic analysis is conducted in this study from three dimensions, namely, eco-city planning scheme, operating mechanism, and guarantee measures. A 3D evaluation model for eco-city planning is constructed through index selection. Schemes are ranked comprehensively with the distance measure method, and projection analysis is performed with the four-grid evaluation screen. Finally, the 3D evaluation model is applied to evaluate eco-city planning for Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Weifang. Results show that the model can be used to evaluate eco-city planning schemes effectively and comprehensively and offers targeted optimization suggestions in accordance with the evaluation results. Construction of the 3D evaluation model of eco-city planning based on the distance measure to determine the reasonability of eco-city planning reduces the institutional and social costs of eco-city planning practices.

Zhou, Lingyun; Wu, Jie; Mu, Dong; Wu, Yachao; Gu, Zhonghua

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0004

As a crucial element of city planning, an adequately planned logistics center for agricultural products can improve the circulation efficiency of agricultural products, thereby contributing to a convenient lifestyle of urban residents. First, this study analyzed the functional zones of urban green logistics centers for agricultural products based on low-carbon idea. A method was also proposed to calculate the area of each functional zone. Moreover, this study proposed a layout planning innovation method of urban green logistics centers for agricultural products based on logistics motion line analysis and logistics intensity calculation. Lastly, this study analyzed the application processes of the layout planning methodology according to the topographical conditions of Huai’an logistics center project case in China. Results of the case study show that the construction innovation method proposed in this study is scientific, reasonable, and practical. The construction innovation method can be also used for the planning and designing of similar urban logistics centers.

Chen, Qiquan; Weng, Ji; Corcoran, Stephen; Fan, Chenhao

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0005

The performance of the building envelope of a large-scale public building significantly influences the energy consumption of such a building. This study aims to determine the best strategy for the envelope by examining the engineering design of the building in Nanchang University. The building shape coefficient, sun-shading strategies, window–wall ratio, roof, and walls were studied through a method involving multilayer feed-forward neural network model simulations. Results show that the optimum shape coefficient value is 0.32. The combination of interior and exterior blinds and electrochromic glass is the ideal option to reduce the increase in the energy consumption of the architecture caused by solar radiation. Maintaining the window–wall ratio at 0.4 is ideal. A green roof exerts a minimal effect on building energy consumption decrease (only 0.4%). Applying the strategy of vertical greening to the external wall can reduce cooling energy consumption by as much as 5.4%. Adopting the best envelope strategy combination can further decrease energy consumption by 20.8%. This strategy is also applicable to the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River in China, which flow through Nanchang and have a climate similar to that of the said area. Future research should be directed toward applying artificial neural networks to quantitatively evaluate the effects of a design strategy and produce the best design strategy combination.

Yan, Qin; Pan, Yin

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0006

Planning for underground spaces has become an effective way to use central areas in cities given the steady economic growth in China. The development of underground spaces in mountainous cities has satisfied the needs of the diversification of the city commercial areas and pedestrian movement. Safety issues exist because these underground spaces were originally used for civil air defense. This study was based on the underground commercial street in Chongqing, which is a typical mountainous city. Based on the results of combined fieldwork and survey, this paper summarized current safety issues, which include the not-fully-open exit, the imbalanced exit location, blocked evacuation routes, and the poor awareness of the potential safety issues. This paper proposed a framework of the safety factors for the underground space and synopsized prevention strategies that are specific to potential disasters in the underground environment. The framework comprises ensuring that the exits are fully open, the underground corridors are kept unblocked, the open space on the street is increased for disaster prevention, and equipment security is maintained and managed. At last, This paper summarized disaster prevention strategies, which include ensuring unimpeded exits, balancing the locations of the exits, avoiding blocks, increasing the disaster prevention square area in the underground space, maintaining and managing the security of the equipment.

Jin, Jian; Yao, Jindi; Wang, Jianxiang

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0007

To raise public awareness of protecting Buddhist temples, this study considers Hebei Province of China as an example, and explores the value of architectural planning and design of Buddhist temples. After 11 Buddhist temples in Hebei Province of China are selected, the paper adopts a Delphi method and questionnaire survey method, establishes the value evaluation system from four dimensions: historical value, artistic value, scientific value, and sociocultural value; and calculates the value of the Buddhist temples’ architectural planning and design according to expert rating. Research results indicate the following. Puning Temple, Jinhe Temple, and ShiEn Temple rank at the top because they are complete extant ancient buildings and have beautiful architectural styles. Chongguang Temple and other Buddhist temples have low comprehensive score because they are severely damaged and other reasons. The comparative study indicates that Buddhist temples at different historical periods have different architectural heritage values, and different influencing factors exert different effects on the architectural heritage value. The study establishes an evaluation indicator system, studies the value of Buddhist temples’ architectural planning and design, and achieves certain innovative research perspective. The evaluation of the value of Buddhist temples’ architectural planning and design can help the public gain a better understanding of the value of temple architectural culture. This understanding benefits the preservation of the temple building heritage.

Yu, Xiaohui; Wang, Fei; Wang, Lina

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0008

City wall is an important symbol of ancient Chinese cities with unique geographical and cultural characteristics. Thus, the preservation of this historic landmark is considered significantly important. However, numerous residential construction activities and changes in ecological environment have destructed a great portion of the city walls in recent years. This study looks into the preservation of the ancient city walls from the systematic perspective and in line with the actual characteristics of Longdong Region to provide guideline measures for the protection and restoration of such landmark. Cognition and preservation are adopted extensively to investigate the specific situation of and the factors that influence the ancient city walls in this region. Preservation strategies for the city walls, including the “Axis-Point” system, planning control, and authenticity readability, are presented. The ancient city walls in Longdong Region can be preserved by protecting the entire region, the city, and the main wall body. The systematic method and preservation strategies at the “macro perspective,” “medium perspective” and “micro perspective” levels can solve the preservation problems of the ancient city walls in Longdong Region effectively.

Zhao, Xuemin; Wang, Xinbao

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0009

At present, the evaluation methodology on the design innovation of the stadia is not complete. The degree of innovation of the design scheme of the stadia still cannot be quantitatively estimated; this inability makes it difficult to guide the selection of a design scheme. To solve the problem of evaluation on the innovative design of the stadia, improve such design’s evaluation theory, and accurately direct the selection of the design scheme of the stadia, the Delphi method is used to select evaluation indexes. Moreover, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to determine the index weight in this study; based on this index weight, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is used to establish the model of the design innovation evaluation of the stadia. The model involves the comprehensive and simple selection of indexes and the high reliability of weight selection; the model can quantitatively calculate the comprehensive index evaluation value of the design innovation of the stadia in a relatively accurate and rapid way. In this study, Hunan People’s Stadium is taken as the example for design innovation evaluation; the procedure of design innovation evaluation is introduced in detail. The design innovation evaluation value of the stadia is 2.977 through analysis; this value indicates an ordinary degree of innovation. The innovation evaluation value of the shape is 3.425; this value shows a relatively high degree of innovation. The innovation evaluation value of the structure is 2.47; this value represents a relatively low degree of innovation. The model in this study is an accurate and prompt model that can conduct a comprehensive evaluation on the design innovation of the stadia based on quantitative calculation. This model directly and comprehensively finds the advantages and disadvantages of a design scheme. Thus, it is quite suitable for the design innovation evaluation of the stadia.

Yu, Kanhua

2016 Open House International

doi: 10.1108/OHI-03-2016-B0010

Constructing livable eco-civilized cities has become one of the important tasks of the reasonable planning of urban development. The construction of an ecological city aims to achieve the harmonious coexistence of society, resource, and environment. However, the current evaluation method system of an ecological building encounters problems from a defective evaluation index. Hence, a relatively perfect evaluation index system is built. First, the analytic network process (ANP) is combined with the existing standards online. Then, a rapid calculation of the index weight is performed using Super Decisions software. Based on the needs of complicated problems, the classical TOPSIS model algorithm is improved by introducing the weight coefficient; this improved TOPSIS algorithm is then taken as the core to build a whole set of comprehensive evaluation method system for ecological buildings. The ecological urban agglomeration in Qinling Mountains of Xi’an is used in this study as the example to perform verification in practice. Contrastive analysis is performed on the evaluation results of the new and old buildings using this method system; the results indicate that the ecological effect of the buildings in the new area is much better than that of buildings in the old area. These results are mostly consistent with the evaluation results given by the expert group. Thus, the comprehensive evaluation system proposed in this article is reliable, and effective, as well as practical to some extent. This method can be used in a wider range of building evaluation and further improved in future studies.