by In traditional Chinese architecture, columns are very important wooden members.
As vertical wooden structural members, columns combine with horizontal wooden structural members such as beams, purlins and braces to form roof trusses.
It is a vertical member that bears the upper load.
This chapter introduces the column: the diameter of the column, the height of the column, the collection and distribution of the column, the side foot, and the key points of the column production.
Column diameter Column diameter refers to the diameter of the root of the front eave (corridor) column.
In small buildings, large buildings without dougong and some miscellaneous buildings, the diameter is usually 1, and other dimensions are multiples of it.
In other words, as long as the size of “column diameter” is available, the detailed dimensions of various parts and components of small buildings, large buildings without dougongs and some miscellaneous buildings can be calculated according to the trade-off rule of “modulus multiple” of the ancients.
Picture source of column diameter diagram: Tang Chongping’s Introduction to Woodwork Knowledge of Traditional Chinese Architecture (Part 1) – Basic Knowledge of Traditional Architecture and Wood Structure and Dougong Knowledge of Clean Official Architecture in Beijing.
Picture source of column diameter of small buildings in the Qing Dynasty: Tang Chongping’s Introduction to Woodwork Knowledge of Traditional Chinese Architecture (Part 1) – Basic Knowledge of Traditional Architecture and Wood Structure and Dougong Knowledge of Clean Official Architecture in Beijing Determination of the column diameter of small buildings: the ratio to the column height is 1:11 (if the column diameter is 270mm, the column height is 3000mm).
Determination of the column diameter of large buildings: 6 bucket openings according to the cleaning method.
Column height refers to different parts of column height in large and small buildings.
The column height of small buildings is the height from the building base (open) to the column head (lower skin of beam).
(1) The column height of small buildings is the height from the building base (exposed) to the column head (lower skin of beam), as shown in the following figure.
The picture source of the column height of small buildings in the Qing Dynasty: Tang Chongping’s Introduction to the Knowledge of Woodwork in Traditional Chinese Architecture (Part I) – Basic Knowledge of Traditional Architecture and the Knowledge of Wooden Structures and Dougong in Beijing’s Clean Official Architecture.
Here is one thing to be explained: the column height in the weighing scale, writings and design drawings refers to the full height from the top of the stone platform to the column head, which actually contains two parts of the height, one is the height of the pure wooden column, The second is the height of the drum diameter of the stone (sometimes other materials) column top.
In terms of carpentry construction, the column height refers to the height of pure wooden columns.
This difference must be grasped whether engaged in design or construction.
(2) The tradeoff size of the height of the columns in small buildings is determined by the size of the face width of the open space of the building, and the ratio is usually 10: (7~8) (the column height is 8 feet, the face width is 10 feet; the seven or six purlin building is 10: 8; the five or four purlin building is 10: 7).
(3) Column height of large buildings: there are two types of buildings with and without dougong.
① Large buildings without dougong: the column height is the height from the base of the building (Ming Dynasty) to the column head (lower skin of the beam).
② Large buildings with dougong: The column height of large buildings with dougong is also called eave height, which is different from the part of small column height.
The height of the column (eave) of the large building with dougong is the height from the platform base (Ming Dynasty) to the lower skin of the overhanging eave truss (including the height of dougong and flat beam).
Here we need to pay attention to: why is the height of this column (eave) different from that of the first two columns? Here we learn about the tradeoff knowledge of traditional Chinese wooden architecture related to column height.
From the perspective of the facade, Chinese traditional wooden architecture is composed of three parts: the first is the base (pedestal), the second is the column body, and the third is the roof.
The boundary contours of these three parts are respectively the horizon and the outer line of the base (platform base); The outer line of the base (abutment) and the roof cornice line; Roof cornice line and roof ridge line.
The height of each part of the three parts is proportional.
According to the traditional weighing scale, the ratio between the height of the base (pedestal) and the height of the column is 1: (5-7); The ratio of column height to roof height is about 1:0.9.
Although the height of column height is different from the height of roof cornice line, the height difference between the two types of buildings is small and regular, so the height is determined by the height of column height.
In large buildings with dougong, the height of this section should be added to the height of dougong in addition to the height of the column itself, so its height should be calculated into the lower skin of the overhanging eave truss.
Picture source: Tang Chongping, Introduction to Chinese Traditional Architecture Woodwork Knowledge (Part I) – Basic Knowledge of Traditional Architecture and the Knowledge of Wood Structures and Dougong in Beijing’s Clean and Official Architecture, Ming Picture source of the height of large architectural columns (eaves) with dougongs in the Qing Dynasty: Tang Chongping’s Introduction to the Knowledge of Woodwork in Traditional Chinese Architecture (Part 1) – Basic Knowledge of Traditional Architecture and the Knowledge of Wood Structures and Dougongs in Beijing’s Clean and Official Buildings (4) The tradeoff size of the height of large architectural columns ① The tradeoff size of the height of large architectural columns without dougongs and the width of the face: the height of the front eave (corridor) column is determined by the size of 6/7 (1:0.86) of the width of the open space (similar to small buildings).
② The tradeoff dimension of the height of the column (eave) of the large building with dougong: the height of the front eave (corridor) column is set at 70 openings (if the height of the dougong and the flat beam is reduced, the height of the eave column is 60.8 openings when the three-step dougong is used; the height of the eave column is 58.8 openings when the five-step dougong is used; the height of the eave column is 56.8 openings when the seven-step dougong is used); The ratio to the face width between the lights is about 0.9:1.
The picture source of the height of the large architectural column (eave) with dougong in the Tang Dynasty: Tang Chongping’s Introduction to the Knowledge of Woodwork in Traditional Chinese Architecture (Part 1) – Basic Knowledge of Traditional Architecture and the Knowledge of Wood Structure and Dougong in the Clean and Official Architecture in Beijing.
The column’s collection and side feet (1) The collection and distribution of the column’s root and head are different in diameter, and the bottom is large and the top is small, which is the collection (commonly known as “hanging or hanging”).
Generally, the size of the score is 7/1000~1/100 of the column height.
(2) The side foot side foot refers to the outward movement of the column foot, which can make the wooden frame more stable.
The size of the side foot is 1/100 or 7/1000.
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