Observations on the Extensionality of Jiangnan Traditional Timber Structure: 关于江南传统木结构外延性的观察

The essay touches on an under-explored aspect of the open project of vernacular carpentry considering it as a physical link for a range of additions, attachments, and instruments. Through field village investigations conducted in the ten year period from 2012-2022, the extensionality of the tectonic frame of Ming and Qing dynasty Jiangnan folk houses is discussed relative to their interpretative capacity for dwelling. The detailing and finishing of the frame’s tectonic is conducive to extended physical operation which is rooted in the “associated milieu” of the timber frame through history. The extensional agreement allows interpretative use in the regional agricultural practices which is firmly linked in a variegated manner to the production of vernacular structural carpentry.