One Building, Two Pillars: The Smallest

The simplest one-bay, two-pillar paifang. It has only two upright pillars and one horizontal lintel, forming a single bay in the middle, about three meters wide and five meters high in total, a scale close to human daily experience. The pillars are square bluestone, with clip-stone blocks fixing them on both sides of the base. Above the lintel, there is only a thin eave board and a small roof, with very few components. In the center, there is a plaque with three to four characters carved on it. The entire structure has no dougong brackets, no complex carvings, only simple moldings and a small amount of bas-relief. It stands at the beginning of a country road, with fields and trees on both sides. The stone is severely weathered, with moss and lichen on its surface. Avoid: adding multiple bays and complex roofs, using a large amount of carved decoration, making the scale huge, depicting the stone as brand new and smooth.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

一座最簡單的一間二柱牌坊。只有兩根立柱與一道橫向的額枋,中間形成單一的開間,寬度約三公尺、總高約五公尺,尺度接近人的日常經驗。柱是方形的青石,柱腳兩側有夾杆石固定。額枋上方只有一道薄薄的簷板與一個小小的樓頂,構件極少。中央有一塊字板,刻著三到四個字。整座構造沒有斗栱、沒有繁複的雕刻,只有簡潔的線腳與少量的浮雕。它立在一條鄉間小路的起點,兩側是田地與樹。石材風化嚴重,表面有青苔與地衣。避免:加入多個開間與複雜的樓頂、使用大量雕刻裝飾、把尺度做得巨大、把石材畫成全新光潔。