Special places archive
February 2005
Yin Yu Tang, a Chinese home
Broken link
This web exhibition introduces a late Quing dynasty merchants’ house from south eastern China. The house was dismantled and re-erected at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, USA.
The web exhibition is the work of Second Story, a studio that specialises in online exhibitions.
The heart of the experience is comprised of five thematic sections that provide a unique lens through which the house can be examined, including Orientation, Construction, Ornamentation, Belongings, and Preservation. Content is segmented into distinct “scenes” within each theme; as visitors navigate between scenes, a persistent 3D model view of Yin Yu Tang reacts to reveal different features of the house. A visual interactive family tree, dozens of audio interviews, hundreds of historical and contemporary photographs, and many videos are sprinkled throughout the experience to make this Chinese home ‘a living house.’ [Blurb from secondstory.com]
From the Construction section of the website, details of mortise and tenon joints that connect parts of the timber frame.