Design analysis and generation of traditional dwellings — The Chinese Bamboo House

This paper explores the question of analysis and generation of traditional dwellings using computer aided design. Many research studies show the traditional Chinese Bamboo Houses in text, photographs and movies. Our approach is to research the design of various Bamboo Houses using grammatical analysis. The rules and styles of these dwellings can be preserved as formal grammars. Formal grammars can be interpreted and recognized in computer modelling programs, and varied Bamboo Houses can be generated by the software programs based on their design rules. The transformations of Bamboo Houses can also be reflected by the transformations of formal grammars. The value of this approach is that not only the 3D models, but also the design rules or styles and the transformation of styles can be preserved in digital formal format. This paper will demonstrate a prototype implementation discuss how it might be used to explore variations of the Bamboo House that are more appropriate for 21st Century cities.