During the past decades, many traditional vernacular buildings have been forced to be demolished or abandoned due to the accelerating trend of urbanisation in China, which has resulted in regional culture, historical memory, and architectural narratives being gradually lost. The contemporary development of courtyard-style architecture under the influence of Confucianism, an important architectural form that carries Chinese culture, remains unclear. To preserve these vernacular buildings and local culture, this paper traces the historical value of courtyard houses. Through a case study, the effectiveness of local courtyard-style building rehabilitation in Shandong is assessed, and key components, building materials, and construction techniques corresponding to Confucian cultural connotations are examined, leading to a more comprehensive dialectical analysis of building rehabilitation. The results indicated that rehabilitation can be effective in preserving vernacular components and cultural narratives in the context of sustainable development strategies for traditional buildings. Moreover, by identifying and evaluating the sense of place and rehabilitation strategies of the architectural heritage, new perspectives are offered to the world of vernacular architectural practice, and existing knowledge of the architectural courtyard is expanded.

After the Industrial Revolution, new technologies and architectural forms gradually replaced China’s wooden construction system, which had lasted for thousands of years. The architectural narrative also turned a new page. As pieces of architectural and cultural heritage and as the residence of “gods”, wooden Buddhist temples carry the indelible imprints of history and religion and have become a healing place or spiritual home for people living in urban areas. In order to preserve the local cultural context and explore the creation of a spiritual “sacred place”, this study traces the spiritual and cultural value of Xi’an’s wooden Buddhist temple through ethnographic qualitative methods of text analysis, observation and interviews. The case study examines the metaphorical symbolism of the architecture’s “sense of place” and religion in terms of architectural structure and components, and the advantages of creating a “sacred place” are examined based on the characteristics of wooden materials. The results show that the design elements of wooden Buddhist temples connect cultural identity and collective memory, which are inseparable from religion, and because of the material properties of wood, they sublimate the sacred atmosphere of religion. Moreover, identifying the “sense of place” and the atmosphere of sacred spaces through the structure, components, and material characteristics of wooden temple architecture offers a new perspective that focuses on architectural emotions and creates a new topic of “sacred places”. Such temples have the potential to enhance human spiritual health and well-being.

An effective strategy for sustainable development is to conduct research on vernacular architecture in response to urbanisation as well as environmental and climate change challenges. However, focused discussion has been limited to date due to the diverse range of disciplines involved in vernacular architecture and the unique examples in practice. Scopus, one of the largest literature databases, was used to find and select a total of 1403 documents for this paper. Techniques for both quantitative and qualitative literature analysis were employed using Microsoft Excel (Version 16.75.2) and the visualisation tool VOSviewer (Version 1.6.19). Using bibliometric analysis, more academic publications were reviewed, aiming to analyse the current situation, influence, and future direction of the literature related to vernacular architecture. The current issues have been obtained from the statistical results, and the opportunities and challenges of vernacular architecture in today’s cities are discussed. The twenty most frequently referenced publications, keywords, and correlations between co-occurrences were all examined in this bibliometric analysis, along with annual publishing trends and the most influential nations, institutions, sources, and authors. The analysis showed a rising trend in vernacular architectural publications, with China, Italy, and Spain being the most prolific nations whose institutions have a high academic impact. However, the degree of international author collaboration remains insignificant. Future themes could focus on energy, comfort, earthquake resilience, and sustainability, with cultural heritage and vernacular communities still receiving little research attention. This study is a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of vernacular architecture, as well as an important study of sustainability and resilience, affirming the importance of vernacular architecture in terms of future urban form and drawing on the lessons of history. Also, the proposed research framework could be a strong reference for future researchers looking for inspiration.

Museum fatigue refers to the physical and psychological fatigue that visitors experience when visiting exhibitions due to information overload, dense display, or monotonous space design. This study takes Mawangdui Han Tomb as an example, draws on Lefebvre’s spatial triad theory, and realizes the transformation of cultural connotation from tomb space into museum space by analyzing perceived space, conceived space, and lived space. This transformation process also proposes a spatial design narrative strategy for this study to solve the problem of museum fatigue. This qualitative study uses ethnography to understand the Taoist and ritual-influenced tomb culture of the Mawangdui Han Tombs, followed by a phenomenological analysis of the museum (lived space). The research results show that a reasonable spatial layout, coherent narrative clues, and a multi-sensory interactive experience significantly improve audience concentration and reduce fatigue. This study provides practical design suggestions for future historical and cultural exhibitions.

The ‘sense of place’ of a religious building can be sacred for the community that frequents the architecture. It is deeply embedded with cultural attributes that made the architecture more meaningful and became a structure that ties the community. This article examines the St. Peter’s Church in Melaka which is seen as the epitome of the Portuguese community as a place for them to congregate. This study is influenced by Lefebvre’s space triad theory on the production of social space based on the ‘perceived,’ ‘conceived,’ and ‘lived’ space to form the interiority through sense of place. This qualitative research delves into ethnography to understand the Portuguese culture followed by the phenomenological analysis on the architecture. The church embodies the spirit of the Portuguese community as they struggle in the mixed cultures of Melaka. It stands tall to remind the people of the monumental historical past, a culture that refused to be put aside.