First of all, we should pay attention to the defensive nature of the building. Shanxi is a "Jiubian Town". Since ancient times, wars have been frequent, and big businessmen have paid special attention to housing safety. Shanxi folk houses emphasize defensiveness: the closed appearance of the courtyard shows the alert to the outside world, which seems to make Shanxi folk houses have a cold expression. The houses of Shanxi merchants are rigorous in structure and generally enclosed and isolated with tall walls; Taking quadrangles as the building unit, the courtyards are connected and spread around the central axis, forming a huge building complex. Shanxi quadrangles generally adopt courtyard doors. Usually, when the gate is closed, it is in a completely closed state. Most of the courtyard doors of quadrangles use wooden doors. One end of the gate made of planks is placed in the shaft from top to bottom, which can be opened and closed, safe and reliable. Generally speaking, the gables of Shanxi quadrangles do not open windows, but stand upright and have a closed appearance.
Secondly, it pays attention to the decoration of buildings and has the characteristics of external beauty. The exterior walls of Shanxi residential courtyards are all gray fair-faced brick walls with simple colors and towering and closed appearance. However, due to the interaction of different shapes such as door, roof, chimney cap, geomantic building and geomantic shadow wall, the outline of buildings along the street is full and stretched. Although Gu Zhuo is not out of date, it is unified but not monotonous, rich but not messy, exquisite but not trivial. Just as Mr. Liang Sicheng said, "the exterior is male and the interior is beautiful" is the characteristic of Shanxi folk houses. Gorgeous curtilage doors, patchwork gables and exquisite wood carvings all make people lament the wealth of Shanxi merchants.
In addition, pay attention to the cultural connotation of architecture. The traditional Confucian etiquette thought is the main idea guiding architectural creation, supplemented by metaphysics and geomantic omen. The overall closed structure of the compound, with clear priorities and different layouts inside and outside the house, can be found in the etiquette, hierarchy and code of feudal thought. There is also a display of folk customs in the courtyard: decorative patterns with rich and auspicious meanings emerge one after another, and legendary story scenes with Confucian enlightenment content abound.
The quadrangles in Beijing are more reasonable than those in Shanxi.