Visual Perception of Traditional Garden Space in
Suzhou, China
A Case Study with Space Syntax Techniques
Zhiming Li*
Department of Urban Planning and Design, College of Landscape Architecture
Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
*Corresponding author, e-mail: lizhiming7507@gmail.com
Abstract—Many scholars have realized the importance of view in
traditional Chinese garden design. However, subject to
limitations of research methods, the visual structure of
traditional garden space has not been fully understood yet. Take
the Lingering Garden in Suzhou as a case, this paper attempts to
use the newly developed syntactic analysis techniques, to explore
the hidden structure of visual perception of traditional garden
space. Based on Depthmap, two types of visibility graph analysis
were carried out. The visual integration analysis result shows
that, at the eye-height level, the visual integration center locates
in the central of the mountain and the pool area of the main
garden. The isovist analysis result shows the complex and
asymmetrical attribute of isovist field in the garden. This paper
suggests that space syntax techniques should be applied to
landscape design practice today because it could help designers
better understand the invisible design rules.
Keywords-visual perception; space syntax; visibility graph
analysis; the Lingering Garden; Suzhou
I. INTRODUCTION
The traditional gardens in Suzhou are well known for their
delicate and refined landscape design, the poetic mood and
artistic atmosphere which they engender. Walking into these
gardens, one cannot help but be shocked by the seemingly
random and complex arrangement of living quarters, reception
halls, pavilions, corridors, terrace houses, hills, creeks and
vegetation. At the same time, people are always fascinated by
ever-changing scenes in these gardens; wherever you stand,
you will have fresh visual surprises. What, then, are the hidden
structures of visual perception underlying these traditional
garden spaces? How are they manifested? What is the
relationship between those hidden structures of visual
perception and the complex spatial layout of traditional gardens?
These are questions this paper attempts to explore.
Many scholars have pointed out that views are the starting
points in traditional Chinese garden design, and the plans of
these gardens often follow and are evolved as a result of the
views that are created [1-3]. Nevertheless, only few scholars
have realized the complexity of the traditional Chinese garden
space and regarded it as a network system [4-6]. Most
researches on traditional Chinese garden space focus on
Supported by the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of
Higher Education (No. 20103204120012) and the Research Start-Up Fund for
High Academic Degree Scholars, Nanjing Forestry University (No. B2011-9).
978-1-61284-848-8/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
aesthetics, metaphysical meanings and design concepts instead
of on its structural system, using methods of humanities rather
than rational ones of natural science [7, 8]. Choose the
Lingering Garden in Suzhou as a case study, this paper
attempts to use the space syntax techniques to quantitatively
analyze the hidden structure of visual perception underlying the
garden space, and aims to get a comprehensive and intensive
understanding of its invisible design rules.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section
2 introduces the space syntax theory and syntactic analysis
techniques. Section 3 presents the background, data processing
and analysis of the Lingering Garden. Section 4 concludes the
paper.
II. THEORY AND METHOD
A. Space Syntax Theory
Space syntax theory was first put forward by Professor Bill
Hillier and his colleague at University College of London. It
investigates the relationship between human societies and
space from the perspective of a general theory of the structure
of inhabited space in all its diverse forms: buildings,
settlements, cities, or even landscapes. The basic concept of
space syntax theory is based on the observed correlation
between visual perception, spatial behavior and spatial
structure [9]. Thus, the basic factors of space syntax come from
visibility and accessibility. In syntactic analysis, architectural
and urban spaces are plotted into two parts: one is spatial
obstacles, such as walls, mountains and ponds; the other is free
space within which human beings are able to move and
perceive from place to place. Free space is the focus of space
syntax theory [10].
B. Syntactic Analysis Techniques
Recently, different syntactic analysis techniques have been
developed to meet specific needs. Visibility Graph Analysis
(VGA) techniques are suitable and useful for this paper, which
is based on Depthmap, a software developed by University
College of London. To better understand the complex and
flexible attributes of traditional Chinese garden space, this
paper selects two analysis types that are included in Visibility
Graph Analysis techniques: visual integration analysis and
isovist analysis. Further, this paper analyzes two types of free
spaces: one is knee-height level space; the other is eye-height
level space.
1) Visual integration analysis
In Visibility Graph Analysis, a grid of points is overlaid on
the plan. A graph is then made of the points, where each point
is connected to every other point that it can see. The visual
integration analysis of a point is based on the number of visual
steps it takes to get from that point to any other point within the
system. Therefore, visual integration analysis represents the
visual accessibility of the whole system at a time and uncovers
how deep each point is to all others. A well integrated point
(coloured in red) is shallow (in terms of number of steps), that
is you do not have to turn often to get from that point to any
other point in the system. On the contrary, a poor integrated
point (coloured in dark blue) is deep with respect to the other
points [11].
2) Isovist analysis
A single isovist is the volume of space visible from a given
point in a certain space. Isovist analysis attempts to find out not
only the single isovist polygons, but also how isovists’
attributes might continuously vary throughout an environment.
There are several widely used parameters in isovist analysis
and this paper selects two of them to describe the spatial
attribute of traditional Chinese garden: drift and point second
moment [12].
Drift is an effective indicator of the asymmetry of isovist
field; it is the distance between the point from which the isovist
is generated and its ‘centre of gravity’. The centre of gravity of
an isovist is calculated as if the isovist was a polygonal lamina Figure 1. The plan of the Lingering Garden and its four parts
of negligible but uniform thickness, as calculated in physics.
Drift will tend towards a minimum value at the centres of analysis, and then acquire analytical graphs. These graphs are
spaces. However, point second moment is a good indicator of represented by the color range from blue to red gradually,
the complexity of isovist field. It is calculated by summing the which indicate different spatial attributes and also means
the differences between each radial length of the isovist and its different effects of visual perception of garden space.
mean, and then dividing this sum by the number of isovist
radials. C. Analysis Results
1) Visual integration analysis of the Lingering Garden
III. CASE STUDY OF THE LINGERING GARDEN We wonder whether the extension of the garden in the
Guangxu reign of Ming Dynasty had changed the hidden
A. Background of the Research Case structure of visual perception or not. Thus, we analyze the
visual integration of the original Lingering Garden (the central
The Lingering Garden is one of the four classical gardens in
part) and the latter whole one at the eye-height level. The west
China. It locates in the northwest of Suzhou city and covers an
part of the garden is ignored in analysis, because this part is a
area about 20,000 square meters. Today, the Lingering Garden
rock garden and its spatial attribute is different from other parts.
consists of four parts. The central part was first built in 1595
As is shown in Fig. 2A, the visual integration center (coloured
AD in the Jiajin reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).
in red) of the original garden looks like a broken oval, added by
Later, in the 14th to 17th century period (1888~1891 AD) of
a series of rays that radiated from the Crisscrossing Ancient
Guangxu reign, the owner enlarged the garden space and the
Tree Branches Court (Gumu Jiaoke). At the same time, Fig. 2B
eastern, northern and western parts were built.
shows that the visual integration center of the whole garden
looks like a series of rays radiated from the West Mansion (Xi
B. Data Processing Lou). If compare Fig. 2B with Fig. 2A, we could find that the
The plan data of the Lingering Garden were scanned from visual integration of the whole garden is reinforced at the
Professor Tong Jun’s famous book on classical gardens [13], as horizontal direction, while the vertical direction is weakened.
is shown in Fig. 1. Then, a DXF format file of this plan was
drawn in AutoCAD. After that, import this DXF format file However, the Lingering Garden’s visual integration has not
into Depthmap to make visual integration analysis and isovist been changed dramatically after extension. In fact, both of the

Figure 2. Visual integration analysis of the Lingering Garden
original part and the latter one locate in the central of the
mountain and the pool area. That is to say, those points in the
central of the mountain and the pool area are highly visible
from (or easily to see) the other points. What interests me is the
fact that the designer did designed so many scenic spots in this
area, such as the Osmanthus Fragrance-Smelling Studio (Wen
Muxi Xiang Xuan), Little Immortal Island (Xiao Penglai),
Wisteria Trellis (Ziteng Jia), Moated Pavilion (Haopu Ting),
and Satisfaction Pavilion (Ke Ting). Actually, this area is the
best place for visitors to stop and appreciate the most beautiful
Figure 3. Point second moment analysis of the Lingering Garden
scenery in the Lingering Garden. So, we could find that the
result of visual integration analysis correlates well with its
physical landscape design.
At the knee-height level, as is shown in Fig. 2C, the visual
integration center of the whole garden locates around the Five-
Peak Immortal Hall (Wu Feng Xian Guan), which is quiet
different from the eye-height level analysis result, as is shown
in Fig. 2B. It indicates that the Five-Peak Immortal Hall is the
most accessible area in the whole garden. This finding is also
consistent with field investigation: the Five-Peak Immortal
Hall is the only way that connects the east to the central part of
the Lingering Garden. The visual integration analysis uncovers
an important fact that, although the Lingering Garden was
enlarged about 47% of its original area, the hidden structure of
visual perception at the eye-height level space is almost the
same.
2) Isovist analysis of the Lingering Garden
Many researches have demonstrated that isovist properties
correlate well with spatial behaviors. As is shown in Fig. 3A,
the point second moment analysis at the eye-height level shows
that isovists in the northwest and southeast of the main garden
are much more complex than in other parts. According to field
survey, this result is consistent with reality, especially the
southeast corner. When people enter into the garden there is a
small sky-light yard, and only by passing through the yard and

Figure 4. Drift analysis of the Lingering Garden
the winding corridor does one get to see the second space with
flowers and plants. Passing through another corridor the third
space is reached, where an ancient tree leans against the wall,
and only then does the mini hall connected to the corridor, and
lined with lattice windows appear. Through the windows the
main body of the garden can be seen. In here, halls, corridors
and walls form a variety of spaces, and the alternation in these
spaces, the change from light to dark, from large to small,
topped with decorations of the ancient tree, and the flowers and
plants, bring varied and ever-changing view surprises and
pleasure to the viewer.
The point second moment analysis at the knee-height level
illustrates that isovists in the whole garden space are quiet
simple and homogeneous, except a small area in the north part
of the garden, as is shown in Fig. 3B. However, it is just this
kind of difference between eye-height level and knee-height
level that generates the unique spatial attribute of the Lingering
Garden. Namely, the walls divide but do not separate scenery;
the walls keep the scenic areas both being connected and
divided.
The drift analysis result exhibits that the isovist field in the
garden is obviously asymmetrical, either at the knee-height
level or the eye-height level, as is shown in Fig. 4. One of the
notable differences between them is that, the frequency
change of the asymmetry of isovist field is relatively slow at
the eye-height level, as is shown in Fig. 4A; while it is much
faster at the knee-height level, as is shown in Fig. 4B. In fact,
it is also precisely this asymmetrical attribute of the Lingering
Garden space that makes people feel refreshed by the ever-
changing scenes, which never tire the eye.
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper tries to find out the hidden structures of visual
perception underlying traditional Chinese garden spaces. Based
on space syntax theory and take the Lingering Garden space as
a case study, the visual integration and isovist analysis are
carried out to uncover the spatial attribute. The main research
findings are as follows: (1) The visual integration center locates
in the central of the mountain and the pool area of the
Lingering Garden, which has not been changed dramatically
after extension at the eye-height level. (2) Isovists in the
northwest and southeast of the main garden are much more
complex than in other parts at the eye-height level space, while
they are simple and homogeneous at the knee-height level
space. (3) Asymmetry is a distinctive spatial feature of the
Lingering Garden, which is also an important factor why it is
so fascinating.
The research findings also strongly suggest that the
quantitative analysis based on the space syntax techniques
could help designers to better understand the invisible design
rules and the hidden visual structures of traditional Chinese
gardens, which would be instructive and effective for modern
landscape design practice today.
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