Abstract
The influences of globalization and urbanization fostered the arising awareness of built environment conservation. As minorities have their diversified festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations and their associated physical space to accommodate these meaningful activities, it is vital to conserve the built environment of ethnic minorities’ region while ensuring it fulfills today’s needs and aligns with the latest development goals. Therefore, the researchers explored a method to collect evidence in supporting the design process of built environment conservation projects of minorities’ festivals or other intangible cultural heritages. This study took the project of Tujia minorities’ wedding practices in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Hubei Province, China as an example. The aim of the client, under the support of local authorities, is to conserve the old buildings and areas of a closed tobacco factory into a Tujia wedding theme boutique hotel. The researchers first conducted a literature review on the practices of Tujia minorities’ weddings, in order to obtain a step-by-step flowchart. Then, a focus group with multiple stakeholders (including the client, representatives of local authorities, wedding planners, etc.) was formed to complete the step-by-step flowchart and each steps’ associated physical space. Later, the path of involved people (e.g., the bride and its family member) and the path of material goods (e.g., wedding gifts) were generated as the main evidence to support the environmental design of the project, especially the function and flow considerations. The design was approved by the client and recognized by local authorities, and it is under construction.
Presenters
Zhou FangLecturer, Department of Design, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei, China Jingyi Zhang
Postgraduate Student, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China Ying Liu
Postgraduate Student, Huangzhong University of Science and Technology, China Zhen Wang
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design
KEYWORDS
Evidence-Based Design, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Built Environment Conservation, Design Method