Health and
happiness are fundamental to human quality of life. The United Nations
World Happiness Report 2012 reflects a new worldwide call for governments
to include happiness as a criterion to their policies. The Healthy Cities
or Happy Cities movement has been endorsed by the WHO since 1986, and
a Healthy House or Happy Home is a critical constituent of a healthy city
or a happy city. Nevertheless, the concept has not been fully explored.
Existing literature on the healthy house has often focused on the technical,
economic, environmental, or biochemical aspects, while current scholarship
on the happy home commonly centers on interior decoration. Few studies
have addressed the importance of social and cultural factors that affect
the health and happiness of the occupants. Identifying four key themes
in Chinese philosophy to promote health and happiness at home, this book
links architecture with Chinese philosophy, social sciences and the humanities,
and in doing so, argues that Architectural Multiculturalism is a vital
ideology to guide housing design in North America. Using
both qualitative and quantitative evidence gathered from ethnic Chinese
and non-Chinese living in the USA and Canada, the study proposes that
the Courtyard is a central component to promote social and cultural health
and happiness of residents. It further details courtyard garden house
design strategies that combine a sense of privacy with a feeling of community
as represented in courtyard housing. The schemes may have universal implications.
Reviews:
"This is a unique book that traverses a wide range of topics including
philosophy, oriental wisdom, psychology, and modern housing design. It
aims to answer a central question - how to design a healthy house and
a happy home - so practical and yet so eternally important for us all.
The study proposes courtyard garden houses as a paradigmatic model. It
promotes multiculturalism in architecture and in social life as a whole,
which is so central to a new global sensitivity on the rise in North America
and elsewhere. In a word,
this book has masterfully integrated a range of topics from philosophy
to building design, addressed a profound yet practical issue of housing
for a healthy and happy life, and promoted cross-cultural thinking so
central to a new sensitivity on the rise in the twenty-first century. It is a great
book that addresses issues practical yet central to life for everyone
- a book everyone should read - for reorganizing your interior, building
a new home, debating for a neighbourhood, or simply pursuing harmony in
your personal and social life." – Jianfei Zhu, Associate Professor,
University of Melbourne, Australia
"After
a sociable childhood in a Beijing courtyard, Donia Zhang's international
studies have led to this insightful publication. Contemporary urbanism
separates, rather than joining us together; Zhang shows that courtyards
informed by Feng Shui and other timeless guides, can result in sociable,
fulfilling, living environments for communities across North America."
– Richard Hayward, Emeritus Professor, University of Greenwich, UK
"With
this new book, Dr Donia Zhang goes well beyond her earlier studies of
courtyard housing in China by first reviewing 20th century courtyard housing
developments in North America. Then, at a time of increasing multi-culturalism,
she looks forward and confidently predicts that courtyard designs will
emerge strong worldwide in the 21st century. Her subject matter ranges
widely in promoting a housing form that is both healthy as a structure
and happy as a home. This is a book that will be welcomed by architects,
planners, and even those contemplating owning a home." – Ronald
G. Knapp, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus, State University of New
York, New Paltz, USA
"As the
book focuses on courtyard houses in the USA and Canada – both countries
that are built on the principle of diversity and immigration from different
countries – she also elaborates on guidelines and policies for ethnic
heritage preservation and the architecture of multiculturalism. Zhang
successfully bridges the cultural divide between the ancient-old traditional
Chinese way of dwelling with North American forms of living. Her book
offers adequate solutions to forms of cohabitation amongst people that
foster a stronger sense of physical and social benefits." –
Ulduz Maschaykh, McMaster University, Canada
(Table
of Contents)
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Cultural sustainability
is a very important aspect of the overall sustainability framework and
is regarded as the fourth pillar alongside the other three: environmental,
economic, and social sustainability. However, the concept is neither fully
explored, nor widely accepted or recognized. This book elicits the interplay
of nature-culture-architecture and theorizes the concept of cultural sustainability
and culturally sustainable architecture. It identifies four key themes
in Chinese philosophy: Harmony with Heaven, Harmony with Earth, Harmony
with Humans, and Harmony with Self , along with Greek philosopher Aristotle's
physics: form, space, matter, and time, it sets them as criteria to evaluate
the renewed and new courtyard housing projects constructed in China since
the 1990s.
Using an innovative
architectural and social science approach, this book examines the political,
economic, social, and spatial factors that affect cultural sustainability.
Supported by a multiplicity of data including: field surveys, interviews
with residents, architects, and planners, time diaries, drawings, photos,
planning documents, observation notes, and real estate brochures, the
book proposes new courtyard garden house design strategies that promote
healthy communities and human care for one another, a concept that is
universally applicable. The volume is a first opportunity to take a holistic
view, to encompass eastern and western, tangible and intangible, cultures
in the theorization of cultural sustainability and culturally sustainable
architecture. It is a comprehensive contribution to architectural theory.
Reviews:
"The book is well illustrated with examples of both remnant and new
courtyard housing including plans for new housing developments by the
author herself. This book will appeal to all interested in heritage and
conservation." – Urban Design
(Table
of Contents)
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Classical courtyard
houses of Beijing (siheyuan) as a housing typology have attracted interest
of people from all walks of life. Due to deterioration, the large-scale
demolition of these houses since the 1990s has given rise to heated debates,
nationally and internationally. In this book, the author traced the history
and design philosophy of classical Chinese courtyard house; introduced,
evaluated, and examined some modern interpretations of it. She further
proposed a standardized design template of new Courtyard Garden House
for ordinary citizens or middle-income families in Beijing, or elsewhere
in the world. The scheme is grounded on the Nine Squares land ownership
system in ancient China, urban design studies on robust block dimensions,
the optimum courtyard dimensions, and the surveys. The book is intended
for scholars and architectural students who care about the past, present,
and future housing development in Beijing; it is also for architects and
developers who would like to pursue the construction of the new courtyard
garden house.
(Table
of Contents)
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Environmental
education and ecological literacy is evolving into a pedagogical field,
with more and more schools today taking actions to create landscaped settings
for natural learning than ever before. With these developments comes a
need for an integrated book that provides both core philosophies as well
as method. This comprehensive volume Schoolyard Gardening as Multinaturalism
presents the first guide to ways of involving students in schoolyard gardening
and designing sustainable schoolyard gardens. Influenced by Chinese Daoism,
American Naturalism, Canadian Multiculturalism, and the architectural
discipline, a new term Multinaturalism is suggested in response to Turners
(1995) call for a better name of Post-Postmodernism. A conceptual model
of Pillars of Student Involvement, as well as a design template for schoolyard
gardens that is applicable in the northern hemisphere, are proposed. Schoolyard
Gardening as Multinaturalism should help shed light on this exciting learning
environment, and is highly recommended for educators, philosophers, designers,
parents, or anyone who is planning to use gardens for teaching and learning.
Reviews:
"Donia Zhang has written an interesting, earthy, and insightful book
that gives the reader both practical things to do and philosophical issues
to think about. Her blending of East and West in terms of philosophies
and gardens comes from her life experiences and desire to bring together
the near and the far." – Professor John Novak, Brock University
"...We are already into
the results and effects of not being attentive to our world, and not treating
our planet with compassion and care. This study is very timely and, yes
I believe focuses on where there is hope for change, the children. She
has taken on a most significant study, she writes with the energy and
passion of being committed to a vision, one grounded in the hope of what
is possible." – Dr Milree Latimer, Brock University
"It is a fine work, it
really stands out, and it touches the soul." – Dr Constance
Russell, Lakehead University; Dr Coral Mitchell, Brock University
(Table
of Contents)
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