We can have a better understanding of Chinese garden house when taking particular regional conditions into consideration. For the climate in the south of China is always hot and humid, natural ventilation and sunlight are important for Chinese garden house. The distinguishing character of Chinese garden house is its desire to locate harmony in the environment, even to become one with nature. Many open space, from garden to tiny courtyards which are built only to be seen from interior house and not to walked through, were created inside Chinese garden house not only for pure visual pleasure but also for the practical necessaries for living harmony with nature. These open spaces provide natural sunlight and fresh air for the interior room. Otherwise, some of room would be in complete darkness because of the tightness of the site. For Chinese people, a house that is not facing the sun was courting cosmic disaster. Advance artificial lighting and ventilation techniques make it possible for us to live in the environment of constant light, temperature and humidity. But, at the same time, overuses of those techniques make people lose the sense of four seasons, and the direction of the sun. In contrast, Chinese garden house depends on natural sunlight, without it, rooms would be dark, or “dead”, the plants inside garden would not grow, the water would not sparkle, and the shadow would not fall. For the qualities of the sunlight that a site receives – the intensity, color, movement, and angle will never be quite like those of any other places. The regional topographical and climatic conditions render Chinese garden house with a distinct regional character.

Chinese garden house creation also emphases the personal value of the house’s owner. For the owner of a Chinese garden house directly took part in his own garden designing and building, the garden inside Chinese garden house could be seen as individual image, it express the personality of the family, at the same time, the main buildings in the Chinese garden house substantiates the ethics and concepts of society. Chinese garden house reflect its owner’s attitude toward nature, life, and the universe. This concept is significance for us today, for users always find lose their personal value in contemporary architecture.

Chinese garden house is an expression of integrated eclogues of climate, resource and culture. Today we respect Chinese traditional garden house because it provides us a living example that is still viable and significant for today. Fusion of this traditional living concept together with the most contemporary of techniques and materials might provide us a successful way to live harmony with nature in the urban area.

It is not the purpose here to write a history of Chinese garden house, or theoretically set out rules and orders for creating a traditional Chinese garden house. Through analyzing the basic philosophies, which influenced Chinese garden house, the design techniques and the space concept of Chinese garden house, one could use the principle and technique of Chinese garden house as inspiration to seek the direction in which Chinese architecture may develop in the future. The essence of Chinese garden house can be briefly concluded as unity and harmony. Unity is found in the appearances of building – the modular construction system, the unity of materials, regularity and the order arrangement. The harmony is found in the relationship between the buildings and their environment. In a Chinese garden house, building an garden form an inseparable part – one cannot exist without the other. Buildings establish physical security, identity and safety from nature’s elements and society demands, Chinese gardens provide places to interact with nature and get naturing inputs of the Sun, the Moon and air. For Chinese people, to build and maintain the harmonious relationship between the living place and its environment will engender harmonious relationship between human beings, human beings and nature. Harmony expresses a quality of modesty of Chinese people. Unfortunately, harmony is generally disappearing from contemporary Chinese architectural practice. In the search for inspiration and aesthetic principles to guide the construction of new building, one need to avoid simply copying a skin-deep image of a traditional building. This would lead to regression into sentimental nostalgia, instead, one should penetrate the generating principles and foundations of the past, transforming them into forms that conform to the new society.

The concept of the harmony relationship between architecture and environment is adapted and developed in many other countries. Next are some successfully examples of Architecture in the other countries, which are influenced by the concept of Chinese garden house.

These examples show us what the architects from other countries can learn form the Chinese garden house. For Chinese people, one also needs to discover the influences from other culture and find a way to absorb and take advantage of those culture. Contemporary Chinese architecture should fuse the past and present, the regional and the universal.

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