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Western-style building

vr.tr.western-style-building · thing-q867703

Let an agent describe Western-style buildings in East Asia, their history, styles and heritage status, from heritage sources.

Thing Registry Physical world and living systems PHY.BLT
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Building Which building.

Identity

Name and place.

Building

Name and location.

  1. Which building? provenance
  2. Where? provenance

Date

Construction.

Date

Year and builder.

  1. When was it built? provenance
  2. By whom? provenance
Style Architecture.

Style

Western style.

Style

Style.

  1. Which Western and local forms and building traditions does it combine? provenance
  2. Per which survey? provenance

Materials

Construction.

Materials

Materials.

  1. Which materials? provenance
  2. Per which survey? provenance
Heritage Protection.

Designation

Status.

Designation

Category and date.

  1. Is it designated? provenance
  2. Since when? provenance

Condition

State.

Condition

Description.

  1. What is its condition? provenance
  2. Restored when? provenance
History Context.

Context

Settlement or modernisation.

Context

Description.

  1. Why was it built in Western style? provenance
  2. Per which history? provenance

Use

Current use.

Use

Use.

  1. What is it used for now? provenance
  2. Open to visitors? provenance

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Physical world and living systems
Entry kind
thing
Plane
PHY
Domain
PHY.BLT

What it is Filled

A building in East Asia built in a Western (European or American) architectural style, especially from the mid-19th century onward, such as the Japanese seiyokan or yokan, the Korean yang-ok and the Chinese yanglou; often residences, consulates, banks and schools of the modernisation era, many now protected as heritage.

Why it exists Filled

Let an agent describe Western-style buildings in East Asia, their history, styles and heritage status, from heritage sources.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • An umbrella category spanning several Western styles and local adaptations; Japanese giyofu buildings are a historical hybrid by local carpenters.
  • Clusters survive in former treaty ports and foreign settlements, such as Nagasaki's timber Glover House (1863).
  • Many are protected, such as Important Cultural Properties in Japan.

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • give structural safety judgements

May

  • describe buildings and heritage status

Moral aspects Filled

  • colonial and treaty-port history
  • heritage conservation

Who is affected

  • local communities

Owners Filled

Steward

the owner of each building

Master systems

  • national heritage registers

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q41176 - registry parent class

related

  • building - built structure
  • Western architecture - style
  • East Asia - region
  • cultural heritage - status

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.western-style-building
  • Wikidata: Q867703 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q867703)
  • Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs heritage database ID: numeric for designated buildings

Direct properties required Filled

  • construction period: mostly mid-19th to mid-20th century

Recognition required Filled

  • Victorian, colonial or neoclassical facades in East Asian cities, such as in Kobe, Nagasaki or Gulangyu
  • Buildings with Western features such as brick, stone or timber walls, sash windows, verandas, columns and pitched roofs, in an East Asian setting.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • describe history and examples
  • explain styles and builders
  • find heritage designations
  • distinguish pseudo-Western (giyofu) buildings

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Earthquake vulnerability of unreinforced masonry

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • Japan Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties
  • Korea Act on Conservation and Utilization of Cultural Heritage

Context of use required Filled

  • Housing, commerce and administration in Western architectural forms.
  • seiyokan and yokan (Japan)
  • giyofu hybrid buildings (Japan)
  • yang-ok (Korea)
  • yanglou (China)
  • foreign settlement residences
  • banks and consulates

Sources Filled

  1. Q867703 - identity of the registry item, labels and sitelinks
  2. Giyofu architecture - pseudo-Western buildings in Japan
  3. Former Glover House - Glover House, its 1863 construction and carpenter Koyama Hidenoshin.
  4. Former Glover Residence, main building - Wooden construction, 1863 date, numeric heritage record and Important Cultural Property designation.
  5. The Invaluable Indigene: Local Expertise in the Imperial Context - Giyofu, local carpenters, Western architectural adaptation and treaty-port history.
  6. Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement - Chinese and Western architectural mixtures, historical period, hybrid styles and heritage protection.
  7. Statutes administered by the Korea Heritage Service - Current titles of cultural-heritage legislation, including modern and contemporary heritage legislation.

Open questions

  • The Wikidata English description is only 'architectural style'; the linked articles (ja, ko, zh) describe Western-style buildings in East Asia.

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q867703/spec.json