As essential elements of the Lijiang Ancient Town World Heritage Site, the Naxi people's traditional architecture and decorative arts have long drawn considerable interest from the fields of architecture, anthropology, and folklore studies. Interpreting the symbolic meanings, aesthetic qualities, and historical-cultural purposes of decorative motifs has been the main focus of previous research. The significant importance of these decorations—that is, how they transcend surface representation to become essential expressions of the Naxi people's dwelling within the particular context of Yulong Snow Mountain—has not yet been thoroughly explored, despite the fact that these studies have produced significant results. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger's ontological philosophy—specifically, his central theoretical framework of “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” and “Geviert: Earth, Sky, Divinities, Mortals”—is introduced in this paper in order to fill this research gap. In addition to the “Genius Loci” theory of architectural phenomenologist Christian Norberg-Schulz, it develops a research methodology that combines architectural analysis and philosophical contemplation. The Naxi people's architectural ornamentation is the material crystallization and spatial manifestation of the “Geviert” at architectural junctures rather than a merely cultural symbol or an aesthetic element that was added later. It functions as a microcosmic representation of the four interconnected relationships that exist in the real world between earth, sky, divinities, and mortals. This paper explores the various ways ornamentation responds to the “Earth,” conforms to the “Sky,” connects with the “Divinities,” and unites with “Mortals” through phenomenological descriptions and philosophical interpretations of particular case studies. Thus, it makes the case that ornamentation is fundamentally ontological—a spatial practice and tangible representation of the Naxi people's way of “Being-in-the-world.” The goal of this research is to provide a philosophical interpretive framework for regional architectural heritage, going beyond conventional functional-symbolic dualistic analysis. Additionally, it offers different theoretical viewpoints and useful strategies for modern architecture and design to achieve “Poetic Dwelling” and re-establish a connection with the physical world.

Zixuan Xu, Ruige Fang, Hao He. Dwelling and Ornament: An Ontological Inquiry into the Genius Loci of Naxi Architecture in Yulong. Frontiers in Art Research (2025), Vol. 7, Issue 7: 39-44. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2025.070706.

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