Study on Spatial Reconstruction Strategy of Dongshan Traditional Residential Buildings from the Perspective of Adaptive Design

Background and Aim: This study focuses on the traditional dwellings of Dongshan, Suzhou.Dongshan’s Ming Dynasty residences possess significant preservation value, cultural value, and academic research value. This study aims to explore how to protect and develop Suzhou Dongshan's traditional dwellings within the contemporary social context through adaptive design approaches, achieving a balance between cultural inheritance, historic preservation, and modern living requirements. Currently, there is a conflict between modern living requirements and the preservation of these historic spaces in Dongshan's traditional dwellings. Additionally, the aging and deterioration of the historic buildings make their conservation increasingly urgent. These problems have directly led to a large number of spontaneous renovations carried out by residents on their own houses within the village. This has resulted in the loss of the settlement's original cultural character, and the buildings themselves have been severely damaged. Most residents, during these alterations, considered only the convenience of daily life, neglecting the overall architectural character and features of the traditional dwellings. Materials and Methods: Through methods such as field investigations, questionnaire analyses, and archival research, it explores their cultural history, architectural techniques, craftsmanship, spatial characteristics, and functional layouts, proposing design strategies adapted to modern needs. Among them, field surveys are used to record the spatial layout, questionnaire analysis is employed to understand the needs of contemporary users, and archival research is conducted to investigate the existing research achievements and the data on the cultural development of dwellings in the Dongshan area. Results: This research has formed the spatial adaptive design theory of Dongshan traditional dwellings. By combining functional reconstruction with spatial adaptive design and using modular and standardized design methods without damaging the cultural texture, the practical achievements of spatial renewal design for Dongshan traditional dwellings have been formed. It constructs a spatial adaptive design guide for Dongshan dwellings in the modern context, realizing the spatial "re-adaptive design". Conclusion: Based on the protection of traditional cultural elements, this study proposes renewal strategies that balance historical and modern needs, including the reconfiguration of functional spaces and the integration of modern facilities. These strategies achieve multifunctional adaptive design, promote the integration of traditional residential culture and modern housing design, and drive the innovative protection of traditional architectural heritage.