The Effect of Enclosure Layout on Wind Environment in Chinese Classic Landscape Gardens: A Case Study of Beijing’s Summer Palace Ruins Garden

Abstract

The design of the enclosure layout is crucial in establishing a comfortable wind environment in Chinese classic landscape gardens. The Ruins Park of the Old Summer Palace exemplifies the mountain construction techniques used in classical Chinese flat gardens, with a diverse and illustrative spatial layout of the hills. In this study, we focused on the earthen hill space of the Old Palace in the Summer Palace Ruins Park. We compared and analyzed the effects of different enclosure layouts of earthen hill spaces on the summer monsoon wind environment. This was achieved via on-site measurements and simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The results show the following: (1) The direction index of the enclosure layout of the earthen hill space affects wind speed, comfort, and ventilation. Increasing the index reduces speed and comfort but improves ventilation. (2) Increasing the density index of the enclosure layout of the earthen hill space leads to a decrease in wind speed and wind comfort and improved ventilation. (3) Conversely, increasing the area index of the enclosure layout of the earthen hill space results in an increase in wind speed, which can result in better wind comfort but can also lead to poor ventilation. Overall, the results suggest that careful consideration should be given to the enclosure layout of landscape gardens to ensure optimal wind conditions within the space.