978-3-0356-1631-6_VernacularArchitecture_EN

Region

Platzhaltertext

Material/Konstruktion

Lehm, Holz, und weitere Materialien

Klimazone

feucht, warm

Building with Earth and Timber:

Fujian Tulou

Qinghua Guo

Tulou (lit. ‘earthen tower’) is a type of communal dwelling, originally

designed to accommodate a whole clan (a group of families

who share the same family name or an extended family) in

Fujian province, China (Figure 1). It is a squared (or nearly squared)

or circular edifice, made of a fortification wall of rammed

earth and a storeyed building of timber frame built against the

wall, thereby creating an inward- looking central courtyard. The

timber structure formed family units evenly and equally which is

consistent with yard. Most of tulou had only one entrance leading

to the courtyard. Tulou was chiefly built by Hakka (lit. ‘guest

families’) whose ancestral homes were in northern China. In a

series of migrations since about the 10th century, the Hakkas

moved and settled in the South. In their new homelands, tulou

were designed with defense in mind to protect their life from

the unfriendly pre-existing populations as well as brigands. The

forms of tulou are rich and complex, demonstrating the change

and persistence of specific modes of life and cultures. Over

3000 tulou constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries

have survived in Fujian; squared

and circular tulou are almost equal in number (Figure 2).

Type I: Vertical unit and horizontal corridor

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The oldest tulou in Fujian is Gufeng Lou, said to date from the

12th century. It is 31.8 x 29.62 m in plan and four storeys in

height, containing 22 family units in shared ownership (Figure

3-A). The external and internal walls of Gufeng Lou are all rammed-earth

walls. Against the internal walls there is a minor

structure made of wood. The wooden structure is used as

service or transitional spaces (kitchen or corridor). The courtyard

(13.5 x 11.4 m) with a well is the focus and the center of

daily activities. There is one entrance which opens onto the

courtyard giving access to all family units. Inside the tulou, stairs

are shared leading from one level to another. Generally speaking,

2 Building with Earth and Timber: Fujian Tulou

China | XXXX | Region 3

there are several possible locations for stairs: opposite the

entrance (see Figure 3-A), inside the entrance (Figure 3-B), at

courtyard corners (Figure 3-C), and in the corridor (see Figure

5-1). The family units are vertical and identical: food preparations

are on the ground floor directly onto the courtyard area, a

storeroom for grains above, and bedrooms on the upper levels.

The rooms are small, about 10 sq. m and 2 – 3 m high. All units

are connected through corridors (Figure 4). The corridor is

cantilever and open to admit light into the upper rooms and

overlook the central courtyard. This arrangement is called ‘corridor

type’ by modern scholars. The vertical-unit and central-courtyard

design is convenient for both family living and

communal life. In the center of a tulou, the courtyard is a sunken

area to allow rain water drain off easily (Figure 5-1). For an enclosed

compound, good drainage is essential. The building is covered

with tiles to reduce the risk of fire and to keep the roof in

good condition. The eaves overhang around the corners to

protect the walls against rain (Figure 5-2).

The largest round tulou in Fujian is Chengqi Lou (1709, rebuilt

1929), consisting of four concentric annular ring buildings.

From the center to the perimeter, they are: ancestral hall (also

used as community school), storage/study rooms, guest rooms,

and family units. The inner three are all single-storey buildings

(the guest house is partially two-storey) and the outermost is

four-storey and 62.6 m in diameter. This tulou has three entrances:

a main gate and two side gates. For security purposes, very

small windows are opened in the upper exterior wall. The

openings are angled slightly further apart towards the inside

(Figure 6). Fujian has a subtropical monsoon climate with

moderate winters. The earthen wall shelters the residents from

both heat and cold. Rooms rely light and ventilation from the

courtyard. Overhang eaves are wide for drainage (Figure 7). The

space under the eaves is for storing household goods (Figure 8).

Type II: Courtyard within courtyard

Familiy unit

Entrance / staircase

Eryi Lou (1770, rebuilt 1904) represents a different arrangement

– ‘courtyard within courtyard’ – named in this paper. The tulou

consists of two concentric annular ring-buildings with a central

courtyard. The inner ring building is single-storey and the outer

four-storey (71.2 m in diameter). The two rings are connected by

a roofed structure at 3-bay intervals. As a result, 12 inner

courtyards were formed in between. Eryi Lou is equally divided


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into 12 family quarters. Each consists of a front building of

three-bay wide, a rear family unit of 4-bay wide and 4-storey

high, two flank buildings and a private court yard. The tulou has

three entrances which open onto the central courtyard which,

in turn, gives access to 12 family quarters (Figure 9-A). The

front house accompanies a doorway with a kitchen and storage

on each side. One of the flank buildings contains a stair which is

used by the family only. Unlike Chengqi Lou discussed above,

Eryi Lou has no common ancestral hall, but a private ancestral

room on the top floor of each family unit. The perimeter wall of

rammed earth is battened and stepped to receive floor joists,

2.5 m at the bottom and 0.8 m at the top, creating a 1 m-wide

corridor behind the ancestral rooms, providing access to all

families (Figure 9-B).

Type III: Type 1 + private stairs

Jiqing Lou is characterized by vertical family units and horizontal

common corridors, plus private stairs. It is a circular tulou of

4-storey high and 66m in diameter, with a big central courtyard.

The courtyard serves as an open-air living room for the whole

clan, within which is an ancestral hall where the center of all

collective activities taking place.

The history of Jiqing Lou can be traced back to 1419. Sometime

in the history, many staircases were added. That is, the family

units became staircase orientated – with private stairs leading

from the courtyard to the top level. The staircases built on the

corridors on the upper levels are all different and each is a

unique design (Figure 10).

Construction Process: Bottom-up

Tulou was constructed with earthen walls and post-beam frames.

The preferred timber is China Fir seasoned (air drying)

before use. Floor joists span from beam to beam, and the end of

the joists rest directly upon the earthen wall. The roof was

finally laid. The lower levels of the building were soon occupied,

but the upper part remains uncompleted for years. Secondary

building works – partitions, doors and windows – will not be

resumed until the families grow and more rooms are needed.

That is, the tulou was partially exposed in all possible unfavorable

condition for years. The timber frame is moved and distorted,

thanks to the earth-timber structure, the movement is stabilized,





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and the tulou is still standing (Figure 11). After typhoons and

other disasters, it is necessary to repair the severely damaged

parts of tulou, for instance the eaves and tiles, earthen walls,

floor joists or verandas. In general, tulou has relatively long

life-span. When an extended family grew bigger beyond the

existing household, a new tulou would be built in neighboring

or available sites.

Construction Custom: Perimeter-ring first

The perimeter ring was constructed, and the inner ring was

added then. Sunyu Lou was built in 1927, the outer ring is a

4-storey building and 74 m in diameter. The inner ring is 4m

apart from the outer one, and completed a quarter (Figure 12).

For defensive purposes, the outer ring is necessarily high. It is

possible to build an inner ring with limited height within a big

courtyard.

Rammed-earth wall and timber-frame

The external wall of tulou is massive, consisting of tamping

earth, rammed layer by layer in a formwork. Paddling the wall with

wooden paddles immediately after the formwork was removed

to gain consistency (Figure 13-A). The rammed earth forms a

homogenous mass which can be built up to 3- to 5-storey high.

There is no scaffolding for wall building. Several teams can work


on the same course, in which case the work is rapidly completed

and the moist earth dries homogeneously (Figure 13-B).

Lengths of Bamboo strips were built into rammed-earth wall to

take tensile stresses. The tiled roof with wide over-hanging

eaves (over 2 m) keeps the roof structure in good condition and

to protect the wall. No external render was applied (Figure 14).

Tulou was constructed with excavated foundation. The width of

the foundation is double that of the wall; and the depth, for

example, is 30 – 60cm for a 3-storey tulou. The foundation was

filled with stone rubbles and the stone substructure extended

above the ground level to form a footing of 0.6 – 1 m high. On

the top of the footing, a layer of tree barks was laid to protect

against rising damp (Figure 15).

The earthen wall is battered from the base to top and stepped

from floor to floor. When the level of the floor is reached, a

series of parallel wooden logs are placed on the wall. The wall

was continually built up, and the next floor joists are laid in the

same way. Purlins forming the roof-frame rest directly upon the

earthen walls. Tiles are laid on the rafters to complete the roof

surface. All the members are visible to the eye (Figure 16).

Conclusion

In Fujian, two forms of tulou are discerned: circular tulou and

square tulou. Expect forms they are remarkably similar in spatial

arrangement, building materials and construction techniques.

What appears to have happened is that in plan the round tulou

became square but otherwise little altered, and vice versa. One

advantage of the circular plan over the square one seems that

the former offers equal units than the latter in terms of orientation.

The squared tulou has one main side, thus a prestige

facing direction. Identical family units indicate that the architectural

design and planning intertwine with the cohesive social

fabric of kinship, but the social hierarchy. It is clear that tulou

shows cultural continuity and building standardization. Two basic

types are distinguished: vertical unit with horizontal corridor,

and courtyard within courtyard. In terms of typology, the former

was older than the latter. In terms of function, the former is



suitable for an extended family with a direct lineage, and the

latter is suitable for a groupof people with kinship-based bonds.

In any case, people living in the same tulou cannot marry one

another.

In Fujian, squared tulou co-exist with circular tulou. The question

as to whether or not circular tulou is older than the squared

tulou is unanswerable. Let us extend our consideration from

architecture to archaeology. Based on archaeological evidence,

circular buildings and squared buildings were both apparent in

Neolithic China. Figure 17 shows earthen houses at Erdaojingzi

(Lower Xiajiadian culture, ca. 2000 – 1500 BCE), in Chifeng,

Inner Mongolia, China. The building materials and construction

techniques used were various, such as coiling reed-mud rolls,

mud bricks, rammed earth, etc. There is no reason to assume

that tulou and Erdao jingzi are related. However, Erdao Jingzi

provides a window to see the history of earth building that

illuminates the tradition were practiced two millenniums before

the date of tulou.

Reference

Huang Hanmin and Chen Limu zhu, Fujian tulou jianzhu. Fuzhou: Fujian Science

and Technology Press, 2012.

Zhen Guozhen (ed.), Fujian Tulou. Beijing: China Encyclopedia Press, 2007.

Lu Binjie (ed.), Measured Drawings: Tulou at Shizhong in Longyan, Fujian. Beijing:

China Building Industry Press, 2011.

Qinghua Guo, ‘Types and Techniques of Earthen Architecture in Erdaojingzi and

Yanik Tepe (2000 BCE),’ Chinese Architectural History, Vol. 15, 2018. Beijing: China

Building Industry Press.


978-3-0356-1631-6_VernacularArchitecture_EN

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