Quantitative Estimation of the Internal Spatio–Temporal Characteristics of Ancient Temple Heritage Space with Space Syntax Models: A Case Study of Daming Temple

Ancient temple heritage space is a subcategory of integrated spaces with profound religious architecture, culture, and landscape. The temporal and spatial characteristics, spatial layouts, and functionalities of ancient temples are gradually transformed during different periods in their development. However, quantitative topological estimation tools, e.g., space syntax and detailed digital spatial models, have seldom been adopted in related studies on ancient temples. Daming Temple is a typical representative of the revitalization of Buddhism monastic building heritage in China. This research studies the spaces of Daming Temple, Yangzhou City, in three different periods and explores its spatio–temporal characteristics based on two space syntax models, i.e., the angle segment analysis (ASA) model and the visibility map analysis (VGA) model. By multi-step quantitative estimation, changes in the mean depth (MD), mean connectivity, and intelligibility of the temple have been observed. The global spatial structure is thoroughly revealed, which indicates the changes in the ‘temple-residence-garden’ inter-relationship. It is indicated that dynamic spatio–temporal characteristics of the temple have been undergoing changes chronically. Some phenomena are found to be effective in offering reasonable explanations for these changes, i.e., the changes in relationships among spaces, visitors’ pathfinding difficulties, and spatial design techniques. It also found that there are certain correlations between temporal–spatial changes and spatial conservation strategies for building heritages. The case study can provide some valuable references for the conservation, reactivation, and redesign of related historical and cultural building heritage in East Asia.