The evolution and adaptive development of traditional dwelling in Southern Shaanxi, China

Traditional architecture has been successful in achieving harmony between housing and environment, which is one of the most important conditions for sustainability. The research tried to study and analyze the traditional architecture to diagnose its importance and ability to solve contemporary problems. Firstly, this study sets up qualitative survey, including location, function space, and structural materials of the dwelling. Then typical dwellings were selected for the assessments of their indoor thermal environment by on-site monitoring. Quantitative analysis reveals that the earth wall has a “warm in winter and cool in summer” property. Secondly, from the perspective of user willingness, we propose the impact factors of dwelling’s development. Finally, it puts forward the measures of dwelling’s sustainable development and seeks to establish a strategy to guide the construction of new dwellings.