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- A Study on the Unique Characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House

A Study on the Unique Characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House (P. I)

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement and significance of the problem
Hue, the Capital of the last empire in the history of Vietnam - Nguyen Dynasty, is known as the Garden City because of its Garden Landscape, Garden Tombs, Garden Royal Palaces and especially, Traditional Garden House. Housing in Hue is always connected closely with garden. Garden likes the element that was used to connect human with creator. It exists everywhere from exterior to interior of the house and contributes to creating the gracefulness and attractiveness of Hue city. Therefore, Traditional Garden House in Hue is the integral element of Hue people’s life and spirit.
In the history, Traditional Garden House in Hue existed more than 200 years ago, when the Nguyen dynasty built the Capital in Hue. Without the Royal family of the Nguyen living in the imperial palace, the members of the Royal family and the high-ranking mandarin lived in residences and palaces outside the Citadel. Their houses are Traditional Garden Houses. The spatial arrangement in Hue Garden House looks like a small Citadel zoom out. According to Dr. Tran, B.T, in past, the property owner – high-ranking mandarin or royal family always wished to reach the higher honour like the King. Therefore, if what way the Citadel was planned and built, the similar way Garden house was planned and built. In addition, the differences in living style, the building code published in Nguyen reign and city planning make Hue Traditional Garden House have unique characteristics that are different from other Traditional Houses in Vietnam.
Because of its unique characteristics, Hue Traditional Garden House represents the inheritability of Vietnam national culture, contents the private characteristics of Hue City and it is the valuable cultural heritage of Hue. It is the place that shows the life, activities, religious belief of people in the past and also expresses the opinions, expectations and feelings of Hue people- the property owners of Hue Traditional Garden Houses. In addition, it is the school for raising and educating people who have the private cultural characteristics of Hue people.
However, because of the development of urban, economics and population, the difficulty of preserving and conserving the wooden structure of the house from insect, termite, etc, the transformation of lifestyle, space for living and activities of the Traditional Garden House is changing for integrating into modern life. Especially, the inadequate knowledge of people about architectural values of the House such as the spatial arrangement, function, plan, material…can conduct they have not consciousness for preserving and conserving. Several Houses were rebuilt or/and extended with cement. Most Traditional Garden Houses disappeared under the weight of progress. Houses’ owners sold parts of their houses to build more modern dwellings or they divided the land into several parts for descendents. Several were rebuilt as restaurants or karaoke bars... The result of that progress is the problem that makes Hue will be lost the important value in quantity and quality. The number of Traditional Garden House is getting smaller, from thousands of the Houses in Hue city in past to 331 Houses in 1998 (The Statistics of Hue People’s Committee in 1998), 318 Houses in 2004 and now, the process continuously decrease (Tran Ba Tinh, 2004). In quality, it can conduct to the result that the values of History, Religious Belief, Society, Culture and Humanity. For example, people will not know and understand how members of family in the past lived, what they did activities if the Traditional Garden House vanishes. They will not know the mode of life, the relationship between people and garden, architecture and nature, or the opinion of the owner about the life, society and nature…
The problem is that the House needs to change for integrating into modern life because the lifestyle, activities of Hue families in the past do not suit into the modern life. However, Hue Traditional Garden House is a characteristic cultural trait of Hue hence, the unconscious transformation of the House will make Hue lost one characteristic cultural trait. Therefore, this research wants to study the architectural characteristics, formation and transformation of spatial arrangement in Hue Traditional Garden House for revealing solutions for conserving and integrating Hue Traditional Garden House into modern life. The expected result of this research will fix the conflict mentioned above.

1.2. Objectives and Research Design
The meaning of the name “Garden House” is a mixture between house and garden. However, Hue Traditional Garden House is a type of architecture which is not available in other localities in Vietnam. The difference is expressed not only in the house but also in the garden such as main entrance, sub entrances, masonry screen, etc. Therefore, the topic will find out what are the unique characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House. The purpose of this process is to help people can know more the architectural characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House that are the original criterion for studying the transformation of Hue Traditional Garden House. Hence, the objective of the topic is to:
Clarify the physical characteristics and spatial organization of Hue Traditional Garden House that is the root of Vietnam Traditional Houses.
To solve the objective above, the topic will use documentary research and evidence to find the relationship of Hue Traditional Garden House, Hue Citadel, and Vietnamese Traditional House in different regions.
The structure frame of this topic includes three parts. The first part will introduce formation of Hue Citadel. The second part mentions the overview of Vietnamese Traditional Houses in the North, Central, and South regions. The third part discusses the characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House from the lay out, spatial organization, plan, structure, and material compared with Hue Citadel and other Traditional Houses.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This section mentions previous researches that researched areas relating to Hue Traditional Garden House. It can help to understand different aspects about Hue Traditional Garden House and it is useful for this research to finish.
Up till now, there is no work that focuses its study on Hue Traditional Garden House. After 1993, when Hue was registered on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage, the government and people began to care, research and increasing their mind for conserving and protecting Hue monuments. However, they seem concentrating to study Royal Architecture and mention sketchily in Hue Traditional Garden House. Most of the studies of Hue Traditional Garden House mainly concentrate on the real condition, physical characteristics analysis and conservation situation of the House.
In 1997, the project for researching housing in Hue by Architectural Faculty of Hue College of Science, Hue Monuments Conservation Centre and Waseda University, Japan was done. The field survey for classifying housing in Hue was done by the students of Architectural Faculty of Hue college of Science. The purpose of that survey was to observe the style of housing and make a brief interview for noting the origin of housing in Hue. The result of that survey was not clear and some data could not exact because the students had a short time to do the survey. However, the result of that survey is very helpful to understand the overview of housing situation and Hue Traditional Garden House and the basis source that can use for continuously researching deeply housing in Hue.
One of the notable works, which is a valuable reference, namely is” Nghien Cuu Va Xay Dung Ban Do Phan Bo Nha Truyen Thong Hue” (Researching and Building a Contributory Map of Hue Traditional House) in 2005 by Tran, B.T. This report extended the survey of Traditional House in Thua Thien Hue province and one area in the South of Quang Tri province, the neighborhood province of Thua Thien Hue. As has been mentioned earlier, the report also describes physical characteristics, classifies and evaluates the function and usage space in Traditional House. In his report, he concentrates and describes the physical characteristics of Ruong and Roi house, two common styles of Hue Traditional House. He accounts the number of the House in seven districts and Hue city based on Hue historical formation and classifies the House into four styles according to the number of middle chambers in the House, there are House-1chamber, House-2chambers, House-3chambers and House-5chambers. He also provides the reasons that make the demolishment of Traditional House such as the weight of time, harsh climate, termite and the change of usage. The result of the report is to provide the distribution map of Hue Traditional House and several solutions for preserving and conserving Hue Traditional House following each area such as drawing map of real condition and plan, building project for conserving, etc. Although his report helps to understand overview of Hue Traditional House and provides the distribution map of the House, it has not discussed deeply characteristics of the House and conservation solutions are quite general.
The report of Nguyen, H.T with entitled “Nghien Cuu Va Bao Ton Hop Ly Nha Vuon Truyen Thong Hue” (Relevant Research and Conservation in Hue Traditional Garden House) in 2001 provides garden in Hue and concentrates into Hue Garden House. He discusses spatial arrangement, classification and distribution of plan system in Hue Garden House. He also classifies the arrangement between the main house and Nha phu(Outhouse) following Chinese letter such as Dinh (L), Cong (H), Nhat (I) and Khau (□) and mentions the distribution of plant system following elevation axis, function circle and function area. He closes his report by providing general reasons that make the demolishment of Garden House and some solutions for conservation of Hue Garden House such as organizing tourism in these houses, building clubs of conservation, in which people can know the important role of Hue Garden House and increase their mind for conservation. This report helps to understand the arrangement of garden, main house and outhouse. However, the fourth style (Khau) he mentions is used in big buildings such as communal house, Royal building, or Pagodas. In addition, his report mainly concentrates the plant system and Garden Houses that have had intact garden. In fact, gardens in Hue Garden Houses are in the way of demolishment and they have not kept the situation like the origin.
One relevant research of Hoang, T.T namely “Tam Thuc Nguoi Viet Va Nha Vuon Xu Hue” (Belief of Vietnamese People and Garden House in Hue) in 1999, is the master thesis of Ho Chi Minh Architectural University, Vietnam. Her thesis concentrates to the relationship between spirit living and spatial arrangement in the House, which expresses the relationship between spirit cultural value and physical cultural value. The purpose of this thesis is to assert that the House is the place existing physical cultural and spirit cultural value such as religious belief, manners and customs, mode of living, etc. Garden House is the place that reflects and expresses cultural characteristics. The beginning of the thesis, she provides overview architectural characteristics Traditional House from the North to the South of Vietnam. The next part, she discusses the belief and conception of Vietnamese people in different aspects of the House such as the house is symbol of grown-up children, the place of worship, the place forming and taking place customs and manners, etc. After that, she provides main spaces in Hue Garden House and describes the details of four Garden Houses, they are Lac Tinh Vien, Ngoc Son Cong Chua, An Hien and Garden House of Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa. These Houses are known as the typical Garden House in Hue. The final part, she concludes by providing the values of Hue Garden House such as it contents the values of Traditional House, it has the value of landscape and it is the place expressing the harmony mixability between architecture and nature, etc. Otherwise, she also mentions the situation of demolishment of Hue Garden House nowadays and the consequence of that process. The benefit of this thesis is to help to understand the overview of different Traditional Houses in Vietnam and architectural characteristics of Hue Garden House. However, Garden House mentioned in the thesis includes Traditional Garden House, modern Garden House, such as the fourth Garden House among four Houses mentioned above is the modern house, and the garden is arranged different from other Hue Traditional Garden House.
Other studies of Hue Traditional Garden House also research different aspects of the House and contribute useful results to the research of the author. The book “Tim Hieu Lich Su Kien Truc Viet Nam” (Research of Vietnam Architectural History) of Ngo, H.Q and the book “Kien Truc Dan Gian Truyen Thong Viet Nam” (Traditional Popular Architecture in Vietnam) of Chu, Q.T provide the formation of Traditional House in Vietnam. In their books, there have evidences for finding the origin of Hue Traditional House: Ruong and Roi. The book “Kien Truc Co Do Hue” (Monuments of Hue) by Phan, T.A, Hue researcher, in 2004 provides the overview of Hue. In the book, he describes the formation and monuments of Hue including Hue Traditional House. Hoang, H.A, the heritage specialist, classifies the style of Ruong House, provides the reasons of Ruong House’s decay and guideline for restoring in the report “Huong Dan Tu Bo Nha O Truyen Thong” (Guide to Restore Traditional House) in 2003 of Hue Heritage House. He and Dr. Tran, B.T also provide the data about number and location of Hue Traditional Garden House in the Citadel that are the source for the survey of this research.
In sum up, the studies above have brought a number of aspects that are typical to Hue Traditional Garden House in general as well as those that give a specific character and complexity to the formation of Hue Traditional Garden House. They provided general history and common characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House. However, they have not studied deeply the various aspects of Hue Traditional Garden House such as the formation and transformation including composition of layout, spatial arrangement and typology. In this respect, the research explores and studies deeply various aspects of Hue Traditional Garden House that can contribute to fix gaps of Hue Traditional Garden House’s knowledge.

3. FORMATION OF HUE CITADEL
3.1. History of Hue
Hue is the capital of Thua Thien Hue province, which is located in the centre of Vietnam. Hue was the imperial capital of the last dynasty: Nguyen. In nearly 400 years, (1558-1945) Hue was a cultural and political centre then became the imperial capital of a unified country, which attached closely to a historical period of the Vietnamese people.
Hue has a very abundant thickness of history. In 179 Before Chris, Hue was the area belongs to Nhat Nam district of the northern dynasty. After 12 centuries, Hue was the area of ChamPa Kingdom. In 1306, the name “Hue” appeared and belonged to Tran dynasty, Vietnam after the wedding happened in 1306 between Huyen Tran princess and the King of Cham Pa. Hue was the imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945. Phu Xuan 1 (1687-1712) and Phu Xuan 2 (1738-1801) existed before the Nguyen Dynasty (Fig 1). The Dynasty collapsed in 1945, and as the Vietnam War intensified, people flowed into the Citadel as a refuge place, which changed the character of the city from administrative to dwelling. The site was registered on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage in 1993; it is growing as a place of sight-seeing as well.

Fig 1: The transformation of Hue before Hue construction

3.2. Construction of Hue Citadel
Hue Citadel was planned in 1803-1805 and the building of Hue as the Capital was started by Gia Long King (1805-1820) and continued by Minh Mang King (1820-1241). The city was planned based on specific principles. Foreign culture such as China Feng-Shui and the Ramparts of French Vauban style are reflected in city planning. The most valuable capital of Hue is that through countless vicissitudes of history, Hue has still kept the cultural, material, and spiritual values of the people and preserved the famous, beautiful sights and the cultural tradition of Hue has been inherited and developed in a rich and diversified way.
The location of the Citadel was chosen carefully by Feng Shui consultants. It is the best location for setting up the royal architecture in the Citadel because it contains enough of geographical features such as river, mountains, plain, and sense characteristics such as fertile, verdant luxuriant attributes. According to Feng Shui, Perfume River and Ngu Binh Mountain are the masonry screen of the Citadel. The river passed in front of the citadel brings a good significance for the Nguyen dynasty since water means wealth, strength for the Kings and their descendants. Hen and Da Vien sandbanks express two guardians for the Citadel following the symbol Blue Dragon and White Tiger (Fig 2).

Fig 2: Hue citadel

The construction of Hue Citadel was built under the influence of Western style (Fig 3), using the Vauban model as defensive architecture. Vauban is the name of a French engineer (1633-1707), one of former experts in military architecture. In Vietnam, after the triumph over the Tay Son dynasty, Nguyen Dynasty joined hands with some French experts in military construction such as Colonel Oliver de Puymanel, engineer Lebrun... Gia Long became the first King who applied the Vauban model to the construction of the country's Citadel. (Vauban is the name of a French engineer (1633-1707), owing to his expertise in military architecture, he was appointed to become Marshal and member of the French Academy in 1699. Under Emperor Louis XIV period, Mr. Vauban was in charge of constructing hundreds of strongholds and fortresses to defend his country. He was the person, who created the military construction type called "fortified city" or "inalienable city").

Fig 3: The Construction of Hue Citadel in 1885 (Magazine of Hue Friends, No 33 - in 1912)

The Citadel consists of three waked enclosures and hundreds of palaces and buildings. Some 10,000m in circumference, the first wall, known as the Citadel of Hue, is solidly built for the protection of all court activities. Imperial City, the second wall, around 2,400m in circumference, is dotted with offices where the monarch and high-ranking mandarins came for daily work. Forbidden Purple City, the third wall, about 1,200m in circumference, is private quarters of the Emperor and his family.

4. OVERVIEW OF VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL HOUSE IN DIFFERENT REGIONS
This section will introduce the overview of Vietnamese Traditional House in different regions from the North to the South of Vietnam. The purpose of this section is to exploit the origin of Hue Traditional Garden House. Vietnam is the country of more than 54 ethnic groups and among them, Kinh(Vietnam) group is the biggest and dominant ethnic group. Therefore, the research is to care for Kinh Traditional House (Vietnamese Traditional House).
It is known that most of architectural works and housings in the past were influenced by manners having superstitousness derived from China such as Lo Ban theory (Lo Ban is Chinese person, who was born in 507 Before Christ. He made Lo Ban theory that is the criterion for construction such as chosen time for beginning construction, chosen dimension of the height, width, etc). In addition, the rule of construction and building codes of the feudal influence the shape of houses, such as the Rule of Gia Long King, charter 156 assigned about building construction: “House is not built on two foundations, roof does not have to two layers, and walls cannot paint and decorated. Houses of highest rank and second rank of mandarins can have seven chambers, flower or animal features can be decorated on the ridge, and main door can open three chambers. Houses of the third to fifth rank of mandarins can have five chambers, animal features can be decorated on the ridge, and main door can open three chambers. Houses of common people cannot have over three chambers and cannot be decorated, the material of structure cannot made from valuable wood such as Lim (Iron wood)”. After 1945, when Vietnam became the united country, the superstitions have been reducing but some good manners have existed.

4.1. Traditional House in the North Region
The common Traditional House in the North has the characteristics as follows: The house of poor peasant, in common, has three chambers; the roof is tiled by straw or thatch; wall is made by straw and mud. In plan, the space for worship is in the middle, the camp bed is in front of worship. The house of middle peasant has three or five chambers with two sides. The structure frame is the style of “Keo suot gia chieng”, the common structure frame in Vietnamese Traditional House. In plan, the middle chambers are used for worship and the space for guest. Two sides are the bedrooms of family and the place for storage. In space for kitchen, dining room and farm-instruments are in Nha Phu. House of prosperous peasant is more complex such as there has more Nha Phu for livestock and storage.

Fig 4: Traditional House in HaTay, the North province of Vietnam – Source: Ngo, H.Q, 2000

In sum up, the space for worship is arranged in the middle chambers of Nha Chinh, two sides are bedroom and storage. In common, there is a front yard in front of Nha Chinh. Nha Phu is the space for kitchen, dinning room and farm-instruments. If the owner has second wife, there will be one chamber in Nha Phu for her. The livestock is arranged near Nha Phu. The structure frame is made from trees in the garden such as Xoan (Bead-tree), Tre (Bamboo), etc. The structure is the style of “Keo suot gia chieng”, deformation of “Keo suot gia chieng”, “Vi keo cau – canh ac”, “Vi qua giang – keo cau”, etc (Fig 7). Wall is made from laterite, straw, thatch with mud.

Fig 5: Traditional House in the North Midland region –Source: Ngo, H.Q, 2000


Fig 6: Traditional House in the South region – Source: Ngo, H.Q, 2000


Fig 7: Common structures of Traditional House in the North region

4.2. Traditional House in the North Midland and Central Regions
The spatial organization of Traditional Houses in North midland and central regions is quite similar to Traditional Houses in the north. However, there have several houses with two or four chambers excepting three or five chambers. In common, Nha Chinh faces to the South or South East because of the good orientation. The structure frame of the house in central regions is the style of “Roi”, “Ruong” and deformation of these styles such as “Thuong Ruong Ha Roi”, “Ruong Ban Than”, etc.
In Hue, there usually has a gate in front of the House. The structure frame has one space for storage called “Ram thuong” and one space for protection from moisture called “Ram ha”. In plan, the middle chambers are used for worship, guest and the space of the owner for sleep. Chai Dong is the space for woman; Chai Tay is the space for man. Nha Phu can be separated from Nha Chinh. Most of Traditional Houses in Hue has garden hence, when mentioning Hue, it should be mentioned in garden. House and Garden are two elements that create the harmony environment of Hue people and the reason for the formation of the name” Garden House” or Traditional Garden House”.

4.3. Traditional House in the South Region
The common Traditional House in the South is “Bat Dan”, the style that can extend more space in one or two sides of Nha Chinh. Nha Chinh with three chambers used for worship, guest, living and bedroom. The extending part is used for kitchen, storage and bedroom. The extending part is Nha Phu, Nha Phu can be arranged in the left, right, or behind Nha Chinh. Nha Phu arranged ahead would be used for business, communication and living. Nha Phu arranged rearward would be used for kitchen, storage and dining room. The livestock is arranged rearward and near the space of kitchen. The structure of the House is made from trunk of coconut palm, roof is made from leave and peel of coconut palm and wall is made from adobe brick and soil.

4.4. Summary
The three parts above can help to understand overview the characteristics of Vietnamese Traditional House in different regions. The general characteristics of these Houses are similar. In direction, Nha Chinh usually faces to the South or South East for preventing cold wind from North East. The layout of these Houses consists of Nha Chinh, Nha Phu, livestock, pond, hedge, and entrance gate. The arrangement between Nha Chinh and Nha Phu is based Chinese letter, there are Nhat (--), Nhi (=), Dinh (T), and Mon (∏) or Cong (H). The material of the Houses is used from regional material such as trees, straw, thatch, coconut palm, etc. Nha chinh is the main place used for worship, guest, living, and bedroom. Nha Phu is the space for kitchen, dining room, farm instruments, and storage. There are various styles of structure frame such as “keo suot gia chieng”, “vi qua giang – keo cau”, “keo cau – canh ac”, “Ruong”, “Roi”, etc.
It is realized that the spatial organization, structure frame and function between Traditional Houses in the North and the Central regions are different such as Nha Phu can be separated from Nha Chinh. Two sides of Nha Chinh in the North are used for bedroom and storage while in the Central, Chai Dong is for woman and Chai Tay is for man. The structure frames of the Houses in the North are, in common, “keo suot gia chieng”, “vi qua giang – keo cau”, “keo cau – canh ac”, etc and the structure frames in the Central are “Ruong”, “Roi”, etc. The reason of these differences can be explained that in the past, when Nguyen Lord came to the South, he wanted to express the opposite attitude to Le King and Trinh Lord; hence, the differences are to represent that attitude. It is realized that Nghe Tinh region (Nowadays, Nghe Tinh divided into Nghe An and Ha Tinh province) is the original place of Ruong house in Hue and that thing was demonstrated by one researcher (Ngo, H.Q, 2000 – P48).
The South regions are the place that is extended by Nguyen Lords, therefore the structure frame of these Houses is based on Traditional Houses in the Central region.

Fig 8: Common structures of Traditional House in the Central and South region

5. UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF HUE TRADITIONAL GARDEN HOUSE
As the parts above, characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House have general and private points that are similar and different from Hue Citadel and other Traditional Houses. This part will analyze the relationship of Hue Traditional Garden House, Hue Citadel, and other Vietnamese Traditional Houses in five field studies based on discussing the characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House. Theses field studies are the layout, spatial organization, plan, structure, and material.

5.1. Emergence of Hue Traditional Garden House
When Nguyen dynasty built the palaces and Citadel for living and reigning, it conducted the formation and development of urban planning. The King and his family lived in Purple Forbidden City, the member of royal family and the mandarins must lived outside the City hence, their houses were built surrounding the Royal Palace in the lands that the King assigned. The House is combined harmoniously between Traditional House (Ruong House) and garden called Hue Traditional Garden House.

Fig 9: Location of Traditional House in Hue City (circles)

The Houses existed more than 200 years ago and it is not available in other locations in Vietnam. The house itself is Ruong House, it has origin from Nghe Tinh Province, one province in the North Central region of Vietnam, and move gradually to the Southern Vietnam based on the transformation of Palaces and Citadel of Nguyen Lords and Dynasty (Ngo, H.Q, 2000). In Hue, Ruong House is improved and combined with garden to the new style of Vietnam Traditional House: Hue Traditional Garden House.

5.2. Layout and spatial organization of Hue Traditional Garden House
The combination between Ruong house and Garden expresses opinion of owner to the life, society and culture. Normally, the main house is located in the center of the land, the basin and masonry screen are put in front of the house, and garden is arranged surrounding. There are various and beautiful styles of trees in the garden. It can be explained by the history of Hue formation. During Nguyen Reign, people from all direction came and live. To express the respect attitude to the King and mandarin, they brought many things, fruits, decorated trees and plants that had values to present. Consequently, Hue is the place that exists various, strange and beautiful plants.
The spatial arrangement of the garden can be arranged by following ways:
Elevation axis: Trees in the garden are arranged based the height and effect of shading. Normally, the biggest trees are located near the hedge and the small trees and decorated trees are put near the house (Fig 10).

Fig 10: Arrangement of trees based on elevation axis

Functional lines: The arrangement can be followed to functional lines. In according to (Nguyen, H.T, 2001), the garden can be divided into five lines. Line 1 consists of styles of plant that can be used for hedge and defense of the House such as Chinese tea, Bamboo, Pandanus, etc. Line 2 consists of fruit-trees such as Longan, Jack-tree, Palm tree, Coconut, etc. Line 3 consists of trees, which have economical value such as Green tree (Thanh Tra), Sapodila tree (Hong Xiem), Manggosteen (Mang Cut), Orange tree, etc. Decorated trees and bonsai are in the line 4. Finally, line 5 consists of style of flowers for shading and decoration such as flower trellis, flowerpot, etc (Fig 11).

Fig 11: Garden arrangement based on function line

Function area: According to (Nguyen, H.T, 2001), the garden can be divided into different function areas. The first area is near by the façade of the House, the space of living and the owner. In this area, decorated plants, various flowers such as bonsai, Orchid, Lotus, etc are plant and express the façade of the House. The second area exists near by the outhouse and behind the house. The styles of plants are built in the area are spice species, drug species (Chilli, Ginger, Fennel, Onion, Garlic, etc.), and other species for cooking such as Cucurbit, Jack-fruit, Guava, Peach, Banana, etc. Perennial, Trees for shading are plant in the third area, which is in the West orientation of the house (Fig 12). However, the author of this research does not agree the present of garden in (--) style. The first area should exist in front of the house because the plant of this area expresses the façade and the opinion of the owner (Fig 13).

Fig 12: Distribution of plant followed to functional area and the arrangement of the house followed to Chinese Letter– Source: Nguyen, H.T, 2001


Fig 13: The arrangement of garden should change to the right feature

Normally, all elements of the Houses are arranged following an axis from entrance gate, alley, masonry screen, basin, front yard to house, behind yard and the hedge. According to (Nguyen, H.T, 2001), the outhouse must be in the West orientation of the main house if the main house faces to the South orientation. However, the author think the outhouse can be in the right or the left side of the main house depending on the relevance of functional structure and the owner’s opinion (Fig 15). The result of the survey of 52 Traditional Garden Houses in Hue Citadel of this research shows that all outhouses are in the right side of the main house if seeing from the entrance gate into the house and most of the Houses face to the South East orientation (Fig 14).

Fig 14: The Common Typical Traditional Garden House


Fig 15: Layout of Traditional Garden House in the past (From Magazine of Hue Friends – No1 in 1937)

The simplest form of the main house and outhouse is patterned following the Chinese letter “Dinh” (T), consisting of the main house perpendicular to the outhouse. The meaning of this style is health and strength. A more common layout is the letter “Cong” (H) where the main house perpendicular to parallel outhouses. The meaning of this style is initiative, attack. Nhat (--) style is less common than two styles above and Khau style rarely exist in Hue Traditional Garden House. Normally, Khau style exists in public architecture such as pagodas, temples, or royal buildings.A Study on the Unique Characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House (p. II)

5.3. Plan and Section
The main house of Hue Traditional Garden House is Ruong House, which are style of Vietnam Traditional House and originate in Ruong House in the North of Vietnam. According to (Chu, Q.T, 2003) and (Ngo, H.Q, 2000), Traditional House in Hue and neighboring areas are based on Traditional House in Nghe Tinh province (nowadays this province has divided into Nghe An and Ha Tinh province), an area in the North Vietnam that is contiguous to Thanh Hoa province in the North.
In the plan, Ruong House can be classified based on how many chambers in the middle that the House has: One chamber, three chambers, five chambers and two chambers. From these styles, it can be transformed into different styles such as House with three chambers can be transformed to three chambers, three chambers & two sides, Ruong with chamber ahead, Ruong “vocua” (House has space in front and this space has shell like crab shape) (Fig 16). The common style of Hue Traditional Garden House is Ruong three chambers & two sides (Fig18) and Ruong one chamber & two sides (Fig 17), Ruong five chambers & two sides is used in communal house in the village.

Fig 16: Styles of Ruong House (from left to right, up to down): Ruong 5chambers&2sides (Tran, B.T, 2004); Ruong “Vo cua” (Tran, B.T, 2004); Ruong 3 chambers&2sides; Ruong 3chambers; Ruong with chamber ahead; Ruong 1chamber &2sides


Fig 17: Ruong one chamber & two sides (From Magazine of Hue Friends – No1 in 1937)


Fig 18: Ruong three chambers & two sides (From Magazine of Hue Friends – No1 in 1937)

In the plan, Ruong House can be classified based on how many chambers in the middle that the House has: One chamber, three chambers, five chambers and two chambers. From these styles, it can be transformed into different styles such as House with three chambers can be transformed to three chambers, three chambers & two sides, Ruong with chamber ahead, Ruong “vocua” (House has space in front and this space has shell like crab shape) (Fig 16). The common style of Hue Traditional Garden House is Ruong three chambers & two sides (Fig18) and Ruong one chamber & two sides (Fig 17), Ruong five chambers & two sides is used in communal house in the village.
The important space in the House is middle space. The behind middle space is used for worship; the front middle space is used for guest and important activities. Two sides are used for bedroom or private activities. The space for kitchen, woman and servant-maid is in the Nha Phu.
Column system in Ruong House can be divided into the first row columns, second row columns, third row columns and veranda row columns (Fig 19, 20).
In section, the structure consists of frame system (Ruong system), roof system and the other system.

Fig 18: Plan of Ruong house


Fig 19: Section of Ruong House


Fig 20: Section of Ruong House (Tran, B.T, 2004)

Frame system has column, keo (timber), xa (beam) and tren. Column has the main columns (7) – the first row columns, the second row columns (5), the third row columns (3) and veranda row columns (1). Keo (16, 2, and 4) lies on the columns and sustains dontay (cross-beam). Keo from the first row columns to the second row columns is keo mai (16), keo from the second row columns to the third row columns is keo cu (4); keo from the third row columns to veranda row columns is keo quyet (2). Xa (15, 13) is used to connect the columns of first row follow the transversal point. Tren (8) is used to connect the first row columns follow the vertical point. Roof system has don tay (cross-beam) and Rui. Don tay (12a, 12) lies on Xa (beam) and sustains Rui (21). The shade of Don tay is rectangular or circular. Rui is on Don tay and sustain all the double tiles.
The other systems consist of Ram thuong, Ram ha and Screen wall that can divide the house to chambers. Ram thuong (9) is the stock parquet surrounding the first row columns in middle chambers. When having the inundation, we can put caches in this. In the sides of house, the floor is elevated from 25 to 30 meter. It is called Ram ha (24) that can prevent from moistness and the space under this floor can contain something likes terracotta, china… Normally, the screen walls are made from wood. Many craft-pictures are inscribed meticulously on this. Many craft-pictures with flowers and leaves, floating cloud… are beautiful and skilful (Tran, B.T, 2004).

5.4. Material
The structure frame in Ruong house is made from valuable woods such as Lim (Iron wood), Jack-wood, teakwood, etc. The walls are made from brick and roof is made from double tile or Liet tile (style of flat tile). On the structure, it has various beautiful craft pictures and sculptures for representing the position of the owner.

5.5. The Relationship of Hue Traditional Garden House, Hue Citadel, and Other Traditional Houses
5.5.1. Lay out
It is realize that there have correspondences between Hue Traditional Garden House and Hue Citadel while the lay out of Hue Traditional Garden House and Vietnamese Traditional Houses is similar.
Hue Traditional Garden House, like other Vietnamese Traditional Houses, often faces to the South or South East orientation, because these orientations can receive good wind flowing from the South and South East. Therefore, it exists the sentence “Lay vo hien hoa, xay nha huong Nam” (Get married with virtuous wife, build house face to the South) following the legend. There have several regions that Houses can face to other orientations depending on each geography, microclimate, or main entrance street. However, there are dominant Traditional Garden Houses that face to the same orientation as the Citadel, especial Traditional Garden Houses in the Citadel.
Like other Traditional House in Vietnamese, Hue Traditional Garden House has the similar elements such as gate, front yard, Nha Chinh, Nha Phu, livestock, water-well, pond, and various trees in the garden. However, the arrangement of these elements in Hue Traditional Garden House are more complex and it exists elements based on the belief and Feng Shui theory, such as the arrangement of these elements can follow to elevation axis, functional lines, or functional area. In the other way, it exists a basin (Be can) and masonry screen (Binh Phong) in front of Nha Chinh, and two decorative trees (Ta Thanh Long, Huu Bach Ho) located in two sides of the House that are unavailable in other Vietnamese Traditional Houses. The basin can be dried pond, small pond, or decorative trees (Fig 23). The masonry screen is made from brick with various shapes or brush (Fig 22). It is realized that these elements are similar the elements of Hue Citadel such as Perfume River and Ngu Binh Mountain are corresponded with basin and masonry screen in Hue Traditional Garden House. Hen and Da Vien sandbanks are corresponded with two decorative trees in the House (Fig 24). It can be explained that the owners of the Houses want to express their faithful attitude to the King. Therefore, they arranged these elements as the same arrangement of the Citadel, the house of Nguyen Kings. In addition, the arrangement of these elements is suitable into the belief and the mode of living of Hue people in the past. Binh phong and Be can can avoid the guest go straight into the house and it divides the alley into to part: one conducts guest turn left and come into the living space and one conducts the woman turn right and come into the kitchen and the space for woman. In fact, the two symbols expressing two guardians (Ta Thanh Long, Huu Bach Ho) are less common to see in Hue Traditional Garden Houses. The reason, following the author, is maybe these symbols are not necessary to the mode of living in the Houses.


Fig 21: Lay out of the Citadel and Hue Traditional Garden House





Fig 22: Different styles of masonry screen





Fig 23: Different styles of basin in Hue Traditional Garden House


Fig 24: The symbols expressing two guardians in Hue Traditional Garden House

In sum up, although the layout of Hue Traditional Garden House is arranged similar to other Vietnamese Traditional Houses, it has special private elements such as Be can, Binh phong, etc followed to the Citadel that are unavailable in other regions in Vietnam. It can say that the lay out of Hue Traditional Garden House is the Citadel zoom out.

5.5.2. Spatial Organization
The arrangement of Nha Chinh and Nha Phu is based on Chinese letters such as Nhat (--), Nhi (=), Cong (H), Dinh (--I), Mon (∏), and Khau (ٱ). The common styles in the North regions are Nhat, Nhi, and Mon, the common styles in the Central regions are Nhat, Dinh, and Cong. The common styles in the South are Nhat, Nhi, and Dinh. However, in Hue and surrounding regions influenced by Nguyen Dynasty, Nha Chinh and Nha Phu are separated for expressing the principal and accessory. Nha Chinh must be the main building and remain buildings should be the secondary elements.

5.5.3. Space in the plan
The spatial arrangement in the plan of Vietnamese Traditional Houses is similar (Fig 25). The space for worship is always in the middle chamber, the most important and solemn space in the house. In front of the worship space, there is the space for guest and sleep of the owner and guest. The space in two sides is bedroom of members in the family and the storage. The space for kitchen, farm instruments, and dining room are in Nha Phu. Livestock can be in Nha Phu or next to Nha Phu. However, there have several differences between these Traditional Houses.
Because the South regions are the land that Nguyen Dynasty in the Central extended during their reign therefore, the spatial arrangement in plan of the South Traditional Houses is similar to the Central Traditional Houses and develops more space based on the original style from the Central regions.
In the North, if the spaces in two sides are used for bed and storage, these spaces in the Central are divided into Chai Dong (East side) and Chai Tay (West Side). Chai Dong is for woman and Chai Tay is for man as follow the belief that is “Nam Ta Nu Huu” (Man is in the left and Woman is in the right).

Fig 25: Plan of Traditional House in the North, Central, and South regions

5.5.4. Structure frame
Long time ago, the structure of Vietnamese Traditional House was the simple structure such as Roi structure. After that, from that simple style, the structure is developed more complex, utilizable and reliable structure such as “Keo suot gia chieng”, “Keo suot qua giang”, “Qua giang keo cau”, etc (Fig. 26).




Fig 26: The deformation of structure from the simple structure to complex structure

The structure frame in the Central regions has the style that is different from the common styles in the North. The common style in this region is Ruong structure. It is improved from Roi structure. In addition, there have two other styles that are combined and developed from Roi and Ruong structures such as “Thuong Ruong Ha Roi” and “Ruong Ban Than” (Fig 27). Roi structure has middle columns that can increase the capacity of sustaining strength. In the Central regions, especially in Hue, the structure had changed from Roi to Ruong style because the development of planning and the owners are richer. Therefore, they need more spaces for living and they have enough condition for use better material that can help the house is stronger and more beautiful. In Hue, Ruong structure has more elements; they are Ram Thuong and Ram Ha. The two more spaces are used for storage and preventing from flood and moisture (Fig 28). The reason that the style of the structure frame in the Central Traditional House and in the North Traditional House different is because the houses in the Central are influenced from Nguyen Dynasty and Nguyen Dynasty want to express the opposite attitude with the government in the North. As mention above, the South regions are the land that extended by Nguyen Dynasty in the Central hence, the structure frame in the South Traditional House is formed and developed based on the structure in the Central.





Fig 27: The development from Roi structure to Ruong and other structures



Fig 28: The development from Ruong structure in Central regions to Ruong in Hue

5.5.5. Material
The general character of material in Vietnamese Traditional House is that the materials are the regional materials. The owner usually salvages the regional and existed materials for building the House. For example, the trunk of several styles of trees such as bamboo, coconut palm, etc, in the garden can be used for making the structure. The wall can be made from laterite, brick, so on. It is realized that the materials that are used for built the House change from the simple materials such as bamboo, trunk of coconut palm, thatch, straw, mud, etc to materials more advantage and utilizable such as valuable woods (iron wood, jack wood, etc), brick, double tile, Liet tile, etc.

5.5.6. Conclusion
Vietnamese Traditional Houses are formed from the simple shapes and develop based the differences of each geography, regional belief, the mode of living and the development of society. This is the reason that creates the differences of Vietnamese Traditional Houses in each region.
As the result of the mentions above, Hue Traditional Garden House is special style of Vietnamese Traditional House. Without general characteristics that exist in Vietnamese Traditional Houses, it has unique characteristics that are unavailable in other regions in Vietnam.
The layout is arranged based on Feng Shui theory and the arrangement of Hue Citadel. It looks like the Citadel zoom out that are unavailable in other Vietnamese Traditional House. Because the South regions are the areas, that Nguyen Dynasty attacked and occupied, therefore the Traditional Houses in the South regions has origin and from Traditional House in the Central and develop based on private characters of geography, belief, and the mode of living. The correspondence between Traditional Houses in the South and the Central regions can be realized in the spatial arrangement in plan and the structure such as the arrangement of living space, bedroom, worship space, etc and the structure frame is, in common, made from Roi or Ruong style.
Traditional Houses in the Central regions and in the North have several different characters that express in the layout, spatial organization, plan, structure and material. In the history, Nguyen Lords and Nguyen Dynasty want to express the opposite attitude to the government in the North hence, the mode of living, religious belief, and also the spatial arrangement of layout, plan, structure and material in the Central regions have several points different from Traditional Houses in the North, that are mentioned above.
Those differences are expressed clearly in Hue where Hue Traditional Garden House exists. Without general elements always exist in Vietnamese Traditional Houses such as Nha Chinh, Nha Phu, livestock, front yard, hedge, etc, there have private elements in Hue Traditional Garden House that are unavailable in other regions. Binh Phong and Be can are always located in front of Nha Chinh. Chai Tay is the space for man and Chai Dong is the space for woman. The structure frame in Nha Chinh is, in common, Ruong style that is improved from Roi style and different from common styles in the North regions such as “Keo suot gia chieng”, “qua giang keo cau”, “keo cau canh uc”, etc. Hue Traditional Garden Hue, itself has several points different from Central Traditional Houses. The emergent difference is the harmony combination between the house and the garden. It makes the house integrate into the nature and create the unique characteristics of Hue Traditional Garden House that are unavailable in other regions. Those characteristics make Hue Traditional Garden House is one characteristic cultural trait of Vietnam.

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W1: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2004-09/18/Columns/Traditional%20Miscellany.htm
W2: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/vietnamese/vnculture/culture.htm