Sustainable “Low-Tech” Architecture–Take Traditional Residential Houses in West Hunan for Example
The traditional residential houses in west Hunan, China were built on principle of be in harmony with the nature, with minimal alteration to the environment and with layouts that highlights natural environment. They are made of local building materials - renewable natural resources - with natural texture and simple processing procedure that takes the lowest transportation and processing cost. The structure system of the house is pre-cast timber frame construction highly developed during Chinese architectural history. It’s safe, steady, economic, and makes use of timber resource high efficiently. These original and “low-tech” – compared with the modern “high-tech” concept – but most operational ways are the advantages of the traditional buildings that modern buildings should learn from with regard to the environment and sustainable development.