Han Dynasty: The First Peak of Ancient Chinese Architecture

Architecture has a lifecycle. The passing of a dynasty, the passing of buildings, the end of a dynasty, signifies the downfall of its palaces, and a new dynasty must establish a new style.

The Han Dynasty was the first peak of ancient Chinese architecture. At this time, the number of high-rise buildings decreased, and a large number of multi house buildings increased. The courtyard style layout had been basically established and closely integrated with the political, economic, patriarchal, and ritual systems of the time, which was sufficient to meet the needs of various aspects of society. The Chinese architectural system had roughly formed.

The buildings of the Han Dynasty have four roof forms, namely, the Hip roof, the Resting hill roof, the Hanging hill roof and the Zanjian roof. In the early Han Dynasty, during the period when dougong was not yet fully formed, similar to the architectural system of ancient Greece and Rome, there were also "three section" columns, which were composed of column heads, column shafts, and column bases. The earliest wooden columns were directly inserted into the ground. In order to prevent the columns from sinking, stones were placed at the base to fix them, which is the original column foundation. However, wooden columns buried in soil are prone to decay and mold due to moisture. Therefore, the bottom of the wooden column is lifted onto a stone block as a foundation to isolate the soil from the wooden column. In this way, the stone column foundation also becomes a part of the column, that is, the column foundation.

The main function of the dougong in the Han Dynasty was to support the overhanging eaves, so there were often overhanging forms, and there was almost no warping, only vertical force transmission in the plane parallel to the wall.