Traditional Tujia wooden dwellings are important carriers of regional architectural culture, yet research on their indoor thermal environment and climate-adaptive optimization remains limited. This study investigates a typical “‘一’-shaped, three-bay” Tujia traditional timber dwelling in northwestern Hunan, China, using a combination of field surveys, on-site measurements, occupants’ thermal sensation questionnaires, and numerical simulation to quantitatively assess its summer indoor thermal environment and envelope optimization strategies. The results show that these dwellings generally exhibit hot and humid indoor conditions in summer, with marked thermal differences among functional spaces. The fireplace room demonstrates the poorest thermal performance, while the bedrooms perform relatively better. Simulation calibrated against field measurements further indicates that, without substantially altering the traditional architectural character, indoor thermal comfort can be effectively improved by enhancing the thermal performance of the envelope and optimizing openings, particularly window design and the window-to-wall ratio. The findings suggest that traditional Tujia wooden dwellings in northwestern Hunan embody valuable climate-responsive construction wisdom and retain significant potential for further improvement under contemporary living requirements. This study can provide a reference for the sustainable conservation, adaptive renewal, and improvement of rural living environments of traditional timber dwellings in northwestern Hunan and other regions with similar climatic conditions.

The existing Catholic churches constructed in the Sichuan-Chongqing region between 1840 and 1949, as precious carriers of Sino-Western cultural integration, have been listed in the cultural heritage protection catalog. This study employs the semantic difference method to conduct a quantitative evaluation of the main facade characteristics of these churches across five dimensions, operationalized through six specific evaluation criteria: relationship with the environment, facade contour, facade style 1 (Chinese vs. Western), facade style 2 (Folk vs. Official), facade decoration, and religious expression. The correlation between these facade features was also analyzed. The findings reveal: (1) Among the 62 existing Catholic churches in Sichuan and Chongqing, 14 are Chinese-style churches, accounting for 22.6%. (2) Facades demonstrate distinct cultural fusion: Chinese-style churches incorporate Western vertical composition elements, while Western-dominated churches integrate environmental harmony, Chinese architectural style, folk styles, and minimalist decoration. (3) According to the correlation analysis of Spearman’s correlation coefficient, the correlation coefficient between the facade style and decorative characteristics of the church is 0.857, and the correlation coefficient with religious expression is 0.754, showing a significant positive correlation. This study aims to provide a reference for the quantitative evaluation of cultural heritage facade characteristics and preservation of Sino-Western architectural cultural integration.

Living conservation of architectural heritage relies on in-depth exploration of its cultural connotations and formation mechanisms. Catholic churches built before 1949 in the Sichuan-Chongqing region are crucial witnesses of Sino-Western cultural integration but lack systematic and precise stylistic classification and influencing factor analysis. This study introduced deep learning for automatic facade style classification and refined feature extraction, combined with Geodetector for quantitative analysis of spatial distribution influencing factors. Results showed: (1) ResNet50 and ViT achieved 96.22% and 95.32% classification accuracy, respectively; (2) Eight stylistic types were identified, featuring Chinese plaques as dominant localized elements in Western-style churches and arched doorways as predominant Western elements in Chinese-style churches; (3) Buddhist temple distribution with a q-value of 0.3096 and diocesan case number with a q-value of 0.3378 were the primary influencing factors for Chinese-style and Western-style churches, respectively. This study supports living conservation and value interpretation of Sino-Western integrated architectural heritage.