Courtyard layout. Siheyuan-style residential houses are three houses with one wall, or four houses surrounded by a yard with a yard in the middle, which is called Sanhe Courtyard and Siheyuan Courtyard. There are three or five main rooms, such as buildings, halls or stairs on both sides of the main room. Some occupy a large area, divided into front yard and backyard. There are two or three entrances along the central axis in the front and rear yards of the main house, and wing rooms are built on the east and west sides. Most of them are connected by corridors. Some also have private gardens, rockeries, pavilions and pools. , beautifully laid out. The doors and windows of the house face the patio, and few windows are open to the outside. The gables on both sides of the second floor generally open windows, which is conducive to ventilation and lighting.
The basic feature of "narrow alley has gables, and four waters return to the hall" is used to define the building scope between households in Ningbo, providing private space for fire prevention and theft prevention. The height of the fence is generally more than 4 meters, and the passage is called wall lane or lane. In order to save land, you can take a sedan chair or carriage. Generally 2-3 meters, such as Gui Jing Lane and Dashuyuan Lane in Ningbo, with widths of 2.5 meters and 3 meters respectively. Rainwater drainage, formally through the roof, is actually gathering and discharging on the ground, which expresses the meaning of "four waters return to the hall, and fat water does not flow out of the field".
Sit facing south and west facing east. From the cultural background, the positioning of folk houses is related to the idea of "starting from the Ming Dynasty". "Zhouyi Shuo Gua" said: "The sage listens to the world from the south and governs the world from the Ming Dynasty." Confucius said in the Analects of Confucius Yong Ye: "Yong can also make the South." "Ming Zheng" is actually "Yang Zheng". This is a unique "south-facing culture" in ancient China. Because most of the sunshine comes from the south, and people's production and life are based on direct access to sufficient sunshine. This determines that human daylighting must face south. After a long time, the concept of "living in the south" was formed.