The Lei family
The Lei family of architects were in charge of Qing imperial architecture design for 200 years between the 17th to 19th centuries, specifically from the twenty-fifth year ofContents
The Yangshi Lei Archives contains schematic design, construction drawings, enlarged detail design, preview models for the emperors to visualize the finished buildings, and literal descriptions. Works in the archives are the Qing imperial buildings, part of which are listed on the World Cultural Heritage Cites in China.The design process
The royal construction engineering system during the Qing dynasty is supervised by the Ministry of Works and conducted by a team that formed from craftsmen recruited nationwide. The Pattern Design Office and the Building Estimate Office were set under the Ministry of Works. The Pattern Design Office was in charge of construction design, while the Building Estimate Office estimated the cost of labour and materials. In the design process, drawings, models and building method texts were based on the Official Manual of Constructional Engineering, a technical book that specified building methods published by the court. The first construction method guide book can trace back to the Treatise on Architectural Methods (Drawings
The contents in the graphical samples cover the process of each stage of construction, including site survey, planning, construction method and working notes. In terms of representation, they contain drawings of floor plans, section and elevation. They were drawn and written in ink-brush, charcoal on traditional Chinese paper. Among all Yangshi Lei drawings, the largest sketch is approximately six meters in length, whereas the smallest piece is about six centimetres.Recording method: legends
The drawings use particular legends and labels to represent the size, shape, structure, location, function and other relative information needed in construction. On the drawings for new projects, "tags" written on red or yellow paper are attached to indicate the date of the building's parts, such as "bay-dimensions", "building depth", "height of column", "diameter of the column" and so on. Information about colours and shapes are also found on the tags.Recording method: grid system
During the site survey process, in order to record the three-dimensional topographic features, they used the grid system to projection three-dimensional data on two-dimension paper. A grid system is first drawn from the site centre towards four directions. The scale of the grid depends on the dimension of the layout. Then, at the intersection points of the grid, heights of the land were noted beside. Therefore, the height of the terrain as well as the plane area can be calculated. The grid system was used for site survey and construction planning stage. According to the study of Wang Qiheng, the grid system used for topography survey is "fully compatible with the concept of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) nowadays." Techniques of "layered images, direct parallelism, and perspective shadowing" are also used to represent the three-dimension structure of the buildings. These drawings for technical use are all held by the Lei family themselves outside the court.Models
The Yangshi Lei Archives collection includes building models namely the "ironed models" ( Chinese: 烫样; pinyin: ''tàng yàng''). These ironed models were sent to get viewed and the official approval from the emperor, before conducting further construction method design and cost accounting. The components of Yangshi Lei ironed models were made from cardboard, soft white spruce, red pine and sorghum stalk, and then ironed to fortify the model structure. It is named "ironed" due to this ironing process. They are made into a scale ranging from 1:200, 1:100, 1:50 to 1:20. The surface of the models was coloured according to the design manuscript. The information on building materials and dimension are labelled on the models. The models can generally be divided into three types: the global complex, the individual buildings, and the detailed pieces. The individual buildings visualize the outer and inner structures, and the detailed pieces focus on partial particular furnishings decorations. In an individual building model, the parts of those models can be disassembled. The roof can be removed so that a closer look of inner structures and interior decorations can be seen. The individual building model "Dian Men" is an instance of single building model withOrigins and collection of the archives
The collection of Yangshi Lei architecture materials mainly comes from the archives viewed by the court and archives held by the Lei family themselves. It is a combination of models and sketches found remained in the palace, and materials in museums that were purchased from the last Yangshi Lei generation Lei Tingchang. The archives that viewed by the court are collected in the Palace Museum Archives and the Document Section (the former institution of The Number One Archives). They are the only parts that are directly inherited from the imperial collection without dealings. Drawings in these archives are the final formal ones. During the seven generations of the Lei family's service in the Pattern Design office, sketches and models were first submitted to the court for review. According to command from the emperor, the documents were either reserved in the palace or the Construction Office for further references. Besides, dozens of documents were also collected within the Lei family except those which need to submit to the court. They intended to store the manuscripts from the fifth generation. According to a study by Wang Qiheng and his team who focus on research of the Yangshi Lei Archives, it is shown that some documents had been revised by the Lei descendants for the reconstruction and renovation of imperial buildings. Therefore, most of the archives were held by descendants of Lei's. Around 1930, the Leis began to sell the documents due to financial difficulties. Under the help from Zhu Qiqian, most parts of the collection were purchased by the National Library of China. The others were purchased by the Beijing public and people from abroad. Besides, the Beijing-baseResearch
The collection and research on the Yangshi Lei Archives started in the 1930s. The research has mainly focused on the Lei family, catalogue, and utilization of them.1930–1940: Society for Research in Chinese Architecture
The earliest research on the Yangshi Lei Archives was led by Zhu Qiqian, who was the founder of the1980–1990: Utilization of the archives
This stage focuses on the utilization of the Yangshi Lei Archives on renovations of the Summer Palace, the Old Summer Palace, and so on. More categorizations are completed.1990 – present
Two main institutions concerned with Yangshi Lei Archives research are the School of Architecture at Tianjin University and Tsinghua University. They centre on the Yangshi Lei Archives with relative architectural theory, and digital reconstructions of the Old Summer Palace respectively.References
Sources
* *See also
* Lei Family Bridge {{Authority control Year of establishment missing Archives in China Culture in Beijing Forbidden City Qing dynasty architecture