The Shantou Xiaogongyuan Historic District is a significant cultural symbol of the “Century-Old Commercial Port,” embodying the historical memory of the Chaoshan diaspora culture and modern trade. However, amid rapid urbanization, the area faces challenges such as the degradation of architectural façade styles, the erosion of historical features, and inefficiencies in traditional restoration methods, often resulting in renovated façades that exhibit “form resemblance but spirit divergence.” To address these issues, this study proposes a method integrating computer vision and generative design for historical building façade renewal. Focusing on the arcade buildings in the Xiaogongyuan District, an intelligent façade generation system was developed based on the pix2pix model, a type of Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN). A dataset of 200 annotated images was constructed from 200 field-collected façade samples, including Functional Semantic Labeling (FSL) diagrams and Building Elevation (BE) diagrams. After 800 training epochs, the model achieved stable convergence, with the generated schemes achieving compliance rates of 80% in style consistency, 60% in structural integrity, and 70% in authenticity. Additionally, a WeChat mini-program was developed, capable of generating façade drawings in an average of 3 s, significantly improving design efficiency. The generated elevations are highly compatible and can be directly imported into third-party modeling software for quick 3D visualization. In a practical application at the intersection of Shangping Road and Zhiping Road, the system generated design alternatives that balanced historical authenticity and modern functionality within hours, far surpassing the weeks required by traditional methods. This research establishes a reusable technical framework that quantifies traditional craftsmanship through artificial intelligence, offering a viable pathway for the cultural revitalization of the Xiaogongyuan District and a replicable systematic approach for AI-assisted renewal of historic urban areas.

As the cathedral serving Zuoyun and parts of Inner Mongolia, the Batayizi Church in Datong, Shanxi is the largest surviving Italian Gothic-style Catholic church in the region. The church features a rigorous layout and refined details, making it a significant case study for the dissemination and development of Western architecture in China. Previous studies have focused on local chronicles, aesthetic analyses, and the indigenization of Catholic churches in Shanxi. Due to the scarcity of archival materials, research on the architecture itself has not yet been conducted. The article first summarizes the construction rules of local form and order of Italian Gothic churches based on related church remains and literature. Next, it establishes the architectural form of the church by combining construction rules and field surveys. Finally, the reconstruction design of the church is completed. As the first reconstruction study of the Batayizi Church, this paper attempts to explore a Reconstruction path based on the construction of local form and order of the church and systematically restores the main facade, floor plan, and structural form of the church. The results not only provide insights for the reconstruction of modern Catholic churches in Shanxi but also offer new ideas and methods for the study of the localization of Western architecture in China.

Although the restorative effects of classroom environments are well-documented, the mechanisms underlying semi-outdoor environments near classrooms (SENC), particularly with respect to exposure duration, remain unclear. This study examined the cognitive/neural effects of SENC using the Classroom Veranda Wandering Test (CVWT) and electroencephalograph (EEG). Seventy participants were randomly assigned to either a 5-min ( n = 35) or 10-min ( n = 35) exposure group in a between-subjects design, and cognitive performance was assessed before and after exposure in a within-subjects design. The results showed that SENC significantly improved cognitive performance, as indicated by reduced reaction times in the Spatial Memory Span Test (SMST). Mechanistically, SENC exposure was associated with increased α , β , and θ wave activity during exposure ( p < 0.01) and further elevations in β and θ waves during the posttest ( p < 0.05), indicating enhanced attention and cognitive control. Although both exposure durations facilitated restoration, the 10 min condition produced significantly greater benefits ( p < 0.05). These findings provide empirical evidence for optimizing break-time management and integrating SENC as cognitive restoration spaces in campus design to enhance learning efficacy.