Dramatizing Architectural Space: The Case of a 14th-Century Chinese Temple

Chinese timber-frame architectural tradition underwent a drastic change in its spatial conception during the Song-Yuan period (China’s Middle Period). This is best exemplified in religious architecture, which produced megastructures with unprecedentedly large interior spaces. Using the early 14th-c. main hall of the Water God’s Temple in Hongdong, Shanxi, as an example, this talk will demonstrate that architectural modifications orchestrated a multisensorial experience of the interior.