Renewal and upgrading of a courtyard building in the historic and cultural district of Beijing: Design concept of ‘multiple coexistence’ and a case study

Abstract

Historic buildings in urban areas are valuable heritage and would require effective design for renovation to upgrade these buildings while preserving their heritage characteristics. This current study evaluated renovation requirements: loss of natural and spatial characteristics, single function and lack of building facade design, of a courtyard building in a Beijing historical district. Limitations of the ‘multiple coexistence’ design concept were analysed to fully achieve integration of historical, cultural, social, educational, commercial and economic values while preserving their natural characteristics. Intelligent control strategy and equipment can reshape the spatial lay out and natural environment, to enhance the building function and social value. The design strategy of the skylight to be installed in the courtyard was evaluated by simulation in this study. CFD simulation results show that the air temperature in the courtyard can increase 20% by incorporating a skylight that can be automatically closed in winter. During the summer, the skylight would be open to largely reduce the average air temperature by 1.2°C. The visual impact of external equipment can be mitigated by adding decoration to the courtyard facade. The findings should inform future development of a new design concept, to provide design paradigms for the renewal and renovation of similar historic buildings.

The adaptation of cultural heritage in built environments

“…20 Intelligent control strategies and equipment can effectively improve the comfort of courtyards during winter. 21 The application of adaptive building facades can improve the health of occupants, 22 and microclimate analysis methods can optimize the living conditions of historical buildings and also protect displayed artworks. 23 In addition, material selection, structural joints and technological applications are considered key factors for the success of heritage building restoration.…”

How to Make Urban Renewal Sustainable? Pathway Analysis Based on Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Fsqca)

“…It is necessary to explore how the various combinations of conditions lead to the sustainable development of urban renewal. Based on prior literature and on our observations, the antecedent conditions of this research contain the preservation of history and culture, differentiation, commercial publicity, project reformation and incremental innovation (Ye, 2019;Arbab et al, 2020;Guo et al, 2020;Che et al, 2021).…”

“…Historic buildings in urban areas represent a valuable heritage which needs to be preserved throughout any improvement works (Che et al, 2021). The acceleration of urban update in recent years has caused serious damage to many historic environments, and large-scale demolition and destruction of historic environments have occurred in many cities.…”

Subjective Well-Being of Historical Neighborhood Residents in Beijing: The Impact on the Residential Environment

“…However, there are relatively few studies on special areas such as historic districts. Recent studies on residential issues in historic and cultural districts have extensively investigated issues relevant to neighborhood environments [8], public service facilities [9,10], traffic problems [11], spatial characteristics [12], architectural styles [13][14][15], and neighborhood relations [16,17]. Settels [18], for example, found that newer communities are perceived to be less safe, accompanied by negative emotional signals such as depression and stress, and socioeconomically disadvantaged compared to older-established communities.…”