Fascinated by the unique bamboo house supported by wooden stakes over ground common to architecture of the Tong ethnic group in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Zhang Zeyuan, a building designer from the United States, traveled thousands of miles to Guangxi.

Courtyard houses in northern China and cave dwellings in northwest China are all great attractions to people of Zhang, to whom they are models of energy-saving.

Noting the energy-saving idea advocated by the Chinese government, Zhang said, "We will combine energy saving the norms in China's traditional architecture with modern building design, which also provides abundant inspiration for my company."

Hundreds of architects from 39 countries gathered at the Nanning international housing exhibition. They share the common idea of borrowing energy-saving elements from traditional Chinese architecture.

Statistics from the Chinese ministry of construction show that China, in its current urbanization process, has witnessed 18 million people move from country to cities every year.

About one billion square meters of floor space have been added annually in Chinese cities, the same as that in rural areas. More than one trillion yuan (about 125 billion US dollars) are put into real estate every year in China.

However, construction energy consumption has almost stood as a long-term "headache" for the country, which now has more than 40 billion square meters of houses, with energy consumption three times that of developed nations.

Liu Zhifeng, vice minister of construction, said, "The flourishing construction industry is in an urgent need of energy saving ideas, which can help realize the sustainable development of China's construction industry."

Li Qianyun, vice president of a Singapore-based building designing company, said, "We predict that the coming 20 to 40 years will be the critical period for China's architecture market development."

"We should resort to China's traditional architecture for valuable energy-saving models," said Li.

Experts hold that the obstacle for energy-saving architecture lies in construction cost. According to construction departments, 300 yuan (about 37.5 US dollars) to 400 yuan (50 US dollars) input on per square meter will achieve energy-saving goals.

Such amount of input will surely increase the intangible operation cost, most businessmen acknowledge.

While design and construction materials from China's traditional houses have inspired architects a lot. "Adopting bamboo and wood, house of China's southern Lingnan region gives dwellers a warm winter and cool summer, while China's northwest cave dwelling, based on yellow soil, are water and wind proof," said Milande, an independent designer from a Denmark construction company.

Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, a prestigious expert from the United Nations, said, "Sustainable urban development must resort to energy saving idea development."

"There is no doubt that traditional Chinese architecture has made a contribution to the country's energy saving industry," she stressed.

Adoption of energy-saving materials is far from enough, and the overall layout and system are the core element for energy-saving buildings, said Zhang Zeyuan.

Source: Xinhua