A Digital Analysis of the “L”-Shaped Tujia Dwellings in Southeast Chongqing Based on Shape Grammar

The Tujia ethnic group is one of the major ethnic groups in China, with a long history and abundant cultural heritage. As a distinctive architectural style, Tujia dwellings have evolved over thousands of years, developing a wealth of construction techniques and embodying the wisdom of local craftsmen. These construction techniques are a valuable asset of Tujia folk dwellings but still rely on the oral tradition among craftsmen. Therefore, it is extremely valuable for enriching the world’s architectural system and heritage inheritance to refine these techniques and transform them into regularized digital properties. The “L”-shaped system of Tujia houses is the most common type of Tujia house, featuring both the main house and the wing house, and can distinctly represent the construction technology and style characteristics of Tujia houses. The grammar of “L”-shaped houses is the core part of the grammar of Tujia houses and is also important for analyzing and inheriting the construction technology of Tujia houses. Shape grammar is an analytical method centered on the refinement of rules. This paper takes advantage of its ability to analyze and refine rules, and based on the rich Tujia architectural material library, it summarizes the corpus and refines the grammatical rules of “Generation of the main structure framework”, “Roof truss conversion and support”, “Side houses and stilted structures”, and “Cantilevered elements and corners” into four dimensions, along with many detailed grammars. These rules are transformed into a programming language and parameterized toolkit, providing a detailed summary of the construction logic and techniques. Ultimately, an “L”-shaped construction grammar for Tujia traditional dwellings has been proposed, and with the help of software tools such as Grasshopper, the digital regeneration has been completed.