phuong ly thesis

8/13/2019 Phuong Ly Thesis

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A Critical Regionalist Approach to Housing Designin Vietnam: Socio-Environmental Organisation of Living

Spaces in Pre- and Post-Reform Houses

Phuong The Ly

Supervisors:

Dr. Gillian LawsonSchool of DesignCreative Industries FacultyQueensland University of Technology


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Keywords

Critical regionalism, language of space, organisation of space, pre- and post-reform

housing, relationship of space, spatial model, Vietnamese housing.


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Abstract

Vietnam has a unique culture which is revealed in the way that people have built

and designed their traditional housing. Vietnamese dwellings reflect occupants

activities in their everyday lives, while adapting to tropical climatic conditions

impacted by seasoning monsoons. It is said that these characteristics of Vietnamese

dwellings have remained unchanged until the economic reform in 1986, when

Vietnam experienced an accelerated development based on the market-oriented

economy. New housing types, including modern shop-houses, detached houses, and

apartments, have been designed in many places, especially satisfying dwellers new

lifestyles in Vietnamese cities. The contemporary housing, which has been mostly

designed by architects, has reflected rules of spatial organisation so that occupants

social activities are carried out. However, contemporary housing spaces seemunsustainable in relation to socio-cultural values because they has been influenced

by globalism that advocates the use of homogeneous spatial patterns, modern

technologies, materials and construction methods.

This study investigates the rules of spaces in Vietnamese houses that were built

before and after the reform to define the socio cultural implications in Vietnamese


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The study also required a process of data selection and collection of fourteen cases

of housing in three main climatic regions of the country for analysing spatial

organisation and housing characteristics.

The study found that there has been a shift in the relationship of spaces from the

pre- to post-reform Vietnamese housing. It also indentified that the space for guest

welcoming and family activity has been the central space of the Vietnamese

housing. Based on the relationships of the central space with the others, theoreticalmodels were proposed for three types of contemporary Vietnamese housing. The

models will be significant in adapting to Vietnamese conditions to achieve socio-

environmental characteristics for housing design because it was developed from the

occupants requirements for their social activities. Another contribution of the study

is the use of methodological concepts to understand the language of living spaces.

Further work will be needed to test future Vietnamese housing designs from the

applications of the models.


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Table of Contents

Keywords..............................................................................................................ii

Abstract............................................................................................................... iii

Table of Contents ..................................................................................................v

List of Figures.......................................................................................................ix

List of Tables.......................................................................................................xii

Statement of Original Authorship ......................................................................... xiii

Acknowledgments............................................................................................... xiv

1. Chapter One: Introduction ...........................................................................1

1.1. Background to research.......................................................................... 2

Vietnam and its unique culture ................................................................. 2

Three main regions of Vietnam................................................................. 3

The unification and the event of economic reform in 1986 .......................... 4

Vietnamese housing in the post-reform era ............................................... 5

1.2. The research problem and questions ....................................................... 8

1.3. Research objectives................................................................................ 9

1 4 Outline of the research process 10


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3. Chapter Three: Methodology ..................................................................... 45

3.1. Philosophies influencing the belief of study ............................................. 46

3.1.1. Critical regionalism in reaction to globalised architectural designs ..... 46

3.1.2. Eastern philosophy of yin-yang in harmonising nature and society .... 49

3.1.3. Specificity of architectural design in Vietnam...................................50

3.2. Critique of architectural design research ................................................. 58

3.2.1. Positivist approach versus interpretivist approach............................ 58

3.2.2. Theories of Lefebvre and Bourdieu in the study of space.................. 61

3.2.3. Statistical approach versus ethomethodological or

semiotic approach..........................................................................68

3.3. Research methods of the study.............................................................. 74

3.3.1. Abductive approach to study Vietnamese housing design................. 75

3.3.2. Conceptual framework for studying housing design in Vietnam......... 77

Summary....................................................................................................80

4. Chapter Four: Methods............................................................................... 81

4.1. Overview of the research design ............................................................81

4.1.1. Stage One. Understanding contemporary housing features............... 82

4 1 2 Stage T o Re ie ing niq e cha acte istics of


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4.4.3. Data analysis .............................................................................106

4.5. Pre- and post-reform architectural survey..............................................1074.5.1. On-site sketching of pre-reform dwellings ..................................... 107

4.5.2. Construction documentations for post-reform dwellings.................108

4.5.3. Exterior photography of post-reform housing................................108

4.5.4. Data analysis .............................................................................109

4.6. Ethics and limitations...........................................................................1124.6.1. Ethical issues ...........................................................................112

4.6.2. Limitation of the research ............................................................112

Summary..................................................................................................113

5. Chapter Five: Research Results................................................................115

5.1. Characteristics of contemporary Vietnamese housing .............................116

5.1.1. Designers of contemporary housing..............................................116

5.1.2. Physical characteristics of contemporary housing .......................... 117

5.1.3. Housing indoor climate ............................................................... 119

5.1.4. Family orientation versus community orientation...........................124

5.2. Occupants use of living spaces in pre-reform housing............................125


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6.2.2. Occupants use of spaces in pre-reform housing ...................... 181

6.2.3. Traditional lived space of pre-reform housing ......................... 1836.3. The language of space in Vietnamese housing ................................ 184

6.3.1. The spatial order in Vietnamese housing ................................. 185

6.3.2. The relationship of spaces in Vietnamese housing ................... 188

6.4. Space 3 the central space in Vietnamese housing ............................... 192

6.4.1. Function of space 3 in Vietnamese housing................................... 1926.4.2. Comfort climate for space 3 in the Vietnamese housing ................. 194

6.4.3. Relationship between space 3 and other spaces............................ 195

6.5. Theoretical spatial models for the future Vietnamese housing designs..... 198

6.5.1. Spatial model for social activity.................................................... 199

6.5.2. Spatial model for family privacy ................................................... 201

6.5.3. Spatial model for traditional adaptation ........................................ 203

Summary.................................................................................................. 205

7. Chapter Seven: Conclusion ...................................................................... 207

New knowledge in interpretation of space ................................................... 208

Spatial organisation in the Vietnamese housing............................................ 211


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List of Figures

1.1.Vietnam map showing three main regions of the country .................................. 4

1.2. An outlined diagram of three stages of the study ......................................11

2.1. A house built in the feudal period of Vietnam in Duong Lam, Son Tay, Hanoi .....24

2.2. Influence of French architectural styles in a house in Quang Nam .....................26

2.3. A peasant house in Tra Vinh Province built with nipa-leave roof and

bamboo frame.............................................................................................31

2.4. A house with tiled pitched roof and surrounding overhangs in

Hoi-An Town...............................................................................................31

2.5. A house with wide verandah at front in the Mekong River Delta ........................31

2.6. An on-stilt house near a road in the Mekong River Delta...................................33

2.7. A house with climbing plants on trellis in Vinh Long Town

in the Mekong River Delta ............................................................................33

2.8. Shop-houses (or tube houses) developed on a street in Ho Chi Minh City .........38

2.9. A detached house under construction in Ho Chi Minh City.................................38

2 10 A hi h i t t i H Chi Mi h Cit 38


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5.4. Levels of comfort in the houses located in four Vietnamese cities in 2009........ 119

5.5. Condition of ventilation in contemporary housing in four Vietnamese cities

in 2009..................................................................................................... 121

5.6. Number of houses used air conditioners for inside contemporary Vietnamese

housing in 2009 ........................................................................................ 124

5.7. Places to greet visitors in contemporary housing in four Vietnamese cities in

2009 ........................................................................................................ 124

5.8. Occupants of rural and urban houses ........................................................... 127

5.9. The use of materials and furniture in rural and urban houses ......................... 129

5.10. Front courtyard and verandah in rural houses.............................................. 131

5.11. Space for guest welcoming in rural and urban houses .................................. 133

5.12. Spaces for worship in rural and urban houses.............................................. 136

5.13. Community connection in the pre-reform urban houses................................ 138

5.14. Site layout of the pre-reform rural houses ................................................... 140

5.15. 3D models of the pre-reform urban houses ................................................. 143

5.16. Floor plan of the pre-reform rural houses.................................................... 145

5.17. Floor plans of the pre-reform urban houses................................................. 147

5 18 F d f t t h h d t h d h d t t i


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6.1. A sky-well in combination with ecological roof garden used in

the shop-house to regulate indoor climate ................................................... 195

6.2. A diagram showing space 3 in relationship with other spaces in

the future Vietnamese housing ...................................................................197

6.3. Theoretical models for social activity.............................................................200

6.4. Theoretical models for family privacy ............................................................202

6.5. Theoretical models for traditional adaptation ................................................. 204


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List of Tables

3.1. Lefebvres conceptual triad of space and examples .......................................... 62

3.2. Relationship between research issues, methodology, data type, data source,

and methods for data analysis of the study................................................. 79

4.1. Details of the post-reform houses selected for the study .................................. 92

4.2. Pre-reform rural and urban housing types selected for the study....................... 944.3. Visits to pre-reform houses and the number of photographs in

photographic survey ............................................................................... 106

5.1. Mean score of respondents feeling of indoor comfort .................................... 119

5.2. Solutions for increasing comfort conditions used in three types of housing....... 120

5.3. Mean score of responses on ventilation status in surveyed houses .................. 121

5.4. Solutions to achieve ventilation condition in the houses.................................. 122

5.5. Methods to capture daylight into the interior ................................................. 123


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Acknowledgments

I found that I could not complete this thesis without significant assistance and

support from my supervisory team, financial sponsor, family, and my friends. In

particular, I would like to express deeply appreciations to my supervisor, Dr Gillian

Lawson, who wholeheartedly inspired me with plenty of novel ideas and assisted me

step by step to apply them to the study. I especially thank Associate Professor

Barbara Adkins for her professional help on understanding the methodology of theresearch. Barbaras supervisions opened my mind to a new horizon of knowledge

that was valuable to the study. I am also grateful to Associate Professor Nur

Demirbilek and Professor Janis Birkeland for their guidance, knowledge, and time to

help me from the beginning when I joined into the academic environment at

Queensland University of Technology. I express many thanks to all officers at the

Research Office of the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, and latter

changed to the Faculty of Creative Industries, for their documentary arrangements

and support in the process for conducting fieldtrips, conference attendances,

seminars, and submissions.

Fi i l t i i t t t ib ti t th l ti f thi t d S I


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Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction

Home appears familiar to everybody because it not only protects their life from

natural conditions, but also supports their everyday social interactions and activities

(Scott, 2009, p. 49). It is both a physical object made of materials and techniques,

and a social structure demonstrating cultural meanings and values. The content or

social structure of a home is constituted by the organisation of living spaces for

householders to inhabit, and to conduct their everyday social interactions and

activities. A home has to provide comfortable conditions for the occupants to

interact, live, work, entertain, and relax, according to social demands and cultural

suitability. Designing domestic spaces should start from a deliberate understanding

of social interactions, and consider environmental impacts to make them

comfortable and livable.

Many scholars in the literature who use a positivist approach have provided insights

on how to build a house to achieve a comfortable indoor climate and reduce impacts

on the environment (Fry & Drew, 1974; Hoang, 2002; Hyde, 2000; Salmon, 1999).

They treat the house as a physical object within a scientific perspective, and


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Designing spaces for occupants activities has to be investigated in each particular

case of housing located in a particular region with its culture.

Until September 2012, there has been little research investigating the relationship of

Vietnamese domestic spaces. However, Vietnam has a unique culture that has

evolved with significant changes in socio-economic conditions and political rules. My

motivations and beliefs are that the organisation of living spaces, as the main

content in Vietnamese housing, should be investigated in order to understand how it

satisfies and serves occupants preferences, social behaviours, and activities in their

everyday life. Cultural rules of spatial organisation need to be unveiled so that they

create unique values, integrated with issues of climatic adaptation, to form

contemporary Vietnamese housing. Generally, the focus of this study is to interpret

the organisation of Vietnamese housing spaces and identify the language of space

to construct contemporary housing models for Vietnam.

This introductory chapter aims to present the rationale of the study; address the

research problem, research questions and objectives; introduce the process of data

collection and analysis; and describe the original contribution of the study to

knowledge. Background to research and the outline of the research process are the


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needs are accommodated, establishes significantly unique features. Over time, the

Vietnamese vernacular housing has used natural systems and low-tech methods to

operate. Local craftsmen create climate responsive housing forms, choose locally

available materials, and apply traditional techniques to indigenous buildings.

Housing patterns have co-evolved with the culture in continuing transformations,

constituting architectural values and characteristics that inhabitants have selected in

the construction of housing to suit their social needs.

The social needs of Vietnamese peasants in agricultural society are simply revealed

in the way that they are interested in increasing social contacts and relationships

amongst family members and with the neighbourhood and community. In the

family, members share their jobs and work together in spaces. They live and work

in open or semi-opened spaces, which are suitable to their social contexts. In the

community, they respect mutual connection and kinship with their neighbours and

relatives so that, in some circumstances, they can come with and assist together

(Tran, 1999, p. 91). There seems to be no boundary between spaces, and between

the inside and the outside. Working, living, and guest welcoming activities appear to

take place in the same space, furnished with flexible and movable furniture. The

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Truong Son Mountains run from northwest to southeast, and separate the country

into regions. The climate in each region also changes according to the change of

latitude, although there is the general tropical climate to the country. Thus, the

division of three regions of Vietnam is based on the characteristics of its climate and

history. Moreover, three principal cities located in these three regions are Hanoi,

Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City.


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influenced by industrialisation and urbanisation that many people tend to require

more private spaces to entertain and relax after work. The changes in the economy

entail variations in the way in which people undertake their social interaction and

behaviour. Domestic space is a field of discourse that reflects what people mean

and intend to carry out their everyday activities. The motivation of the study that I

mention here is to understand how Vietnamese occupants live and interact in their

housing spaces constructed in both pre- and post-reform periods. It is necessary to

interpret rules of spatial organisation based on occupants social interactions in

spaces.

The interpretation of social interactions in houses and the role of community in the

participation of housing projects are indispensable because houses are designed in

order to meet their living needs and promote social activities. Much evidence of

contemporary housing developments in Vietnam has shown that the lack of

inhabitants involvement in the designing phase resulted in the failure of the

projects when being handed over to the users. For example, in order to displace for

Ban-Ve Hydroelectric Dam and Reservoir construction in 2006, about 20 houses

were built in a resettled area of Thanh Chuong District, Nghe An Province (central


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activities in Vietnamese housing spaces have been transformed to adapt to the new

condition of economic development.

Sustainable development has internationally emerged as an optimal solution for

achieving a healthy built environment and protecting natural ecosystems. However,

the understanding of the conceived and lived spaces that occupants organise in

their domestic house has not yet been researched thoroughly, especially in the

context of Vietnam. This study investigates the problem of spatial organisation in

Vietnamese housing as the key issue in the design towards sustainability.

Given the increased importance of sustainable housing design for Vietnam, together

with respecting socio-cultural values, these following questions are examined.

1. What are characteristics of contemporary Vietnamese dwellings to satisfy theoccupants preferences and choices?

2. How do occupants use spaces for the everyday activities in pre-reformVietnamese housing?

3. What are rules of spatial organisation of Vietnamese housing built beforeand after the economic reform?


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1.4. Outline of the research process

To interpret the spatial organisation and spaces used by occupants in Vietnamese

housing, a range of data types and sources should be addressed and examined.

Data collection and analysis require a process of three stages. These stages of the

study will be detailed in Chapter Three, which will address the research methods.

The outline with three stages of the study is presented in Figure 1.2 below.

Stage One involves an understanding of contemporary Vietnamese housing in

terms of its characteristics of the indoor comfort conditions for occupants to act and

live, and the physical construction features. An occupant survey is needed to

examine the living conditions and levels of comfort when occupants live in their

houses. The survey is used to collect data from occupants who will be selected

based on housing types they occupy in various residential areas of four Vietnamesecities. However, it is necessary to know how spaces were used the Vietnamese

housing which was built before the reform.

Stage Two includes interpretations of occupants use of spaces in pre-reform

Vietnamese housing. The pre-reform houses will be located across Vietnam. A


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Architecturalsurvey of pre-

and post-reform

housing

Occupant surveyof occupancyconditions incontemporary

housing

Photographs of

pre-reform houses

Photographicsurvey of pre-

reform housing

Occupantsurvey using a

questionnaire

STAGE ONE

STAGE TWO

STAGE THREE

Drawings of pre-and post-reform

houses

Analysis ofcontemporary

housing features

Interpretation ofoccupants

activitiesin pre-

Analysis of therelationship ofspacesin pre-

Research

activities

D

atat

es

analses


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1.7. Structure of the thesis

The thesis comprises seven chapters, three appendices, and a list of references.

Each chapter has its own introduction at the beginning and a summary at the end.

These chapters are not presented in terms of the sequence of research, but in

relation to the findings and outcomes only.

Chapter 1(Introduction) introduces the research problem with the motivations to

conduct the research, and an outline of the research procedure.

Chapter 2(Literature Review) addresses the emergence of cultural considerations

in international documents; reviews critical regionalist approach for cultural identity

in architectural design; considers housing in Southeast Asian countries; explores

environmental and social features in Vietnamese housing identified in the literature;

Chapter 3 (Methodology) reviews tool available for interpreting housing spaces and

maps relevant theories and methodologies used as a conceptual framework for the

study.

Chapter 4 (Methods) explains three stages of the study and methods used

including how to select and collect data and the instruments for data analysis.


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Chapter 2. Literature Review

Universal Declaration On Cultural Diversity, cultural diversity is considered as a

crucial factor in sustainable development:

Cultural diversity widens the range of options open to everyone; it is one of

the roots of development, understood not simply in terms of economic

growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual,

emotional, moral and spiritual existence. (UNESCO, 2001, Article 3)

The recognition of the importance of cultural diversity in international sustainabilityframeworks has influenced concrete actions to achieving genuine sustainable

development, in which culture and nature are two of the most indispensible

elements of sustainability. Similar to the role of biodiversity for nature, preserving

cultural diversity is essential in sustainable development. Preservation of cultural

diversity is to protect heritages and values of community and society which were

created and attached to a certain region throughout the historical period of

evolution. Cultural diversity could foster unique identities of the community, and

therefore, provide a sense of place in all human activities.

In 2003, the General Conference of UNESCO meeting in Paris, ratified the

Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which emphasises:


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governments to promote appropriate strategies for cultural diversity and

preservation (UCLG, 2004). In this document, cultural diversity is viewed as one of

the essential factors in the change of social and urban situation and culture,

together with environment, which are common assets of all humanity (UCLG,

2004, Principle 1). Together with promoting environmental sustainability, the

Agenda 21 for Culturewarns that cultural diversity in the world is in danger due to

a globalisation that standardises and excludes (UCLG, 2004, Principle 1). The role

of city and local governments is important to set spaces for cultural invention and

provide the environment for creative diversity in relation to all facets of culture.

According to UCLG (2010), none of Vietnams cities have yet participated in or

applied the Agenda 21 for Culture, although Vietnam Agenda 21 (Vietnamese

Government) for sustainable development in Vietnam was issued in 2004. In fact,

there have not yet sufficient concerns on cultural issues at the level as important as

environmental considerations in Vietnam. Culture, as defined by Kroeber and

Kluckholn (1952), comprises patterns of and for human behaviour, forming the

unique achievement of human groups embodied in artefacts (p. 181). One of

the cultural artefacts includes the field of housing design which relates to the


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2.2. Housing in South-east Asian communities

Located in the tropics, South-east Asian communities seek to achieve a socio-

environmental balance in the organisation of housing space. Hassan (2002) argues

that, due to settling in wetland areas, South-east Asian people obtain a unique and

distinct culture, in comparison with other tropical regions, and that their socio-

economic activities have an intimate relation to the natural environment. These

activities are conducted within living spaces constituting a dwelling, which is distinctin the region. Knapp (2003), while pointing out features of traditional housing,

states that dwelling is not only a representation of physical shelters that people

inhabit, but also a productive place of living interactions which is called the

domestication of space (p. 2). The following examples reveal socio-environmental

characters through the organisation of space in housing built in South-east Asian

countries.

Traditional housing styles in Laos show that they are well adapted to climate and

natural environment, while containing social meanings in their spatial organisation.

The buildings are elevated on stilts or piles to take advantage of flood avoidance,

cross ventilation, wild animal prevention and workspace underneath (Long, 2003).


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houses (bahay is house in Philippine and kubo is cube in Spanish). The house

provides implied codes for people to use such as the concept of privacy that is

linked to eye contact in a multi-purpose space which functions as a tiny room for

keeping precious possessions, or as a role of kitchen, or as a porch to make a

transition of the inside and outside (Villaln, 2003, p. 208). It is a cultural story

which is described by the language of space.

In Singapore, with distinctively historical and environmental conditions, Chinese

shop-houses were introduced and constructed in the 1820s (Yin, 2003b). Prior to

the introduction of the shop-house, there was no regulation to guide the design. Yin

states that, although there are influences from commercial row houses in China, this

kind of single or double-storey elongated house with narrow frontages is a perfect

adaptation to the situation of population density and intense commercial activities in

Singapore. Commercial spaces are allocated on the ground floor, opening directly

onto the street, while living areas dedicated at back or upstairs (Yin, 2003b). In

1823, legislative building regulations were issued and the architectural

characteristics of the Singapore shop-house were achieved. Among the adjustments

of the shop-house design, actual width of the house depended on the maximum


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2.3. Socio-cultural and ecological factors in Vietnamese

housing

2.3.1. Brief history of Vietnam

The history of Vietnam reveals a perpetual interweaving of cultures between local

traditional identities and external influences. Vietnamese inhabitants constructed

their own culture based on the adaptation of their lives to the climatic and natural

conditions. Meanwhile, external cultures were brought into the country in several

situations. Vietnam was controlled by China for almost one thousand years.

Therefore, the philosophy and ideology of Chinese culture directly affected all

aspects of Vietnamese peoples lives in the feudal period, even until now. Besides

the interplay with Chinese philosophy, Western culture was introduced to the

country, with the influences of the French, together with their colonial and

protectorate policy. Since regaining independence, the communist leaders have

controlled the country into the socialist revolution. After the economic policy was

reformed in 1986, Vietnam truly integrated with the world and experienced

industrialisation and globalisation.


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French colonialism and the Vietnam War:Vietnams independence existed until

the French invaded and set up a colonial rule in the second half of the 19 thcentury.

Modern Vietnam started when the French colonialism was set up in the nation

(Malarney, 2001). At first, the French controlled the south of Vietnam by considering

this region to be the colony of Cochinchina. Then, they established their

protectorate over the north and central Vietnam, which are called Tokin and Annam.

At the end of the 19th century, Vietnam had two rulers - the French and the

Vietnamese Nguyen dynasty in Hue. The political rule of the French in Vietnam

provided some profound influences on society and culture, especially on urban

design in Vietnamese metropolitan areas and architectural buildings.

Resistance movements against French colonial rule happened throughout the

country. At the end of World War II, turmoil became an opportunity for many

nationalist movements to protest against colonialism. As a result, on 2 September

1945, Ho Chi Minh officially declared the independence of the country. This

declaration put an end to the rule of the Vietnamese feudalism, and made the

French withdraw temporarily from Vietnam. However, in 1946, the French returned

and reasserted their control over the country. After an eight-year war, ending with


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manufacturing in the rural regions. The inhabitants needed to adapt to new places

using available resources such as materials and skills of local areas for their new

settlement.

Vietnam af ter the econom ic reform in 1986:The countrys economic situation

experienced a dramatic transformation after the sixth Congress of the Vietnamese

Communist Party. The reform encouraged a market oriented economy for Vietnam

from 1986 (Beresford, 2008). Foreign investments and private enterprises played an

important role in the Vietnamese market economy. With the success of economic

development including a high GDP growth rate, poverty reduction, more political

openness, and an increased concern of cultural diversity, the society, especially in

2006, was better off than before, and this is expected to be improved further

(Beresford, 2008). Economic reform led to more integrations of the society to the

outside world and the socio-cultural influences to the country were inevitable. With

the adoption of an open economy, an inevitable trend is that the whole society has

faced the challenges of globalisation, influencing not only the economy but also the

cultural and social environment (Tran, 2002).

Tran (2002) argues that there have been both positive and negative impacts of


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2.3.2. Vietnamese housing in the feudal period

The number of Vietnamese houses built during the feudal period remain very fewthroughout the country, due to the influence of time, historical situations, and wars

(Tran, 2008b). Many of them were created and renovated during the 19 thcentury in

the rule of the last Vietnamese dynasty. Hanoi is the original cradle of Vietnamese

culture where there have been old buildings built less than 200 years ago (Hoang,

2010). The buildings are located in the Hanoi Old Quarter and in some farming

villages around the outskirts of the city. In Hue, which is the former capital of the

Nguyen dynasty, some garden houses constructed as dwellings of feudal mandarins

are preserved in good condition. Especially, Hoi-An in central Vietnam has

possessed a collection of ancient urban houses in which people are living.

From a socio-cultural perspective, Tran (2008, p. 148) argues that there were two

tendencies of culture in the feudal period under Chinese influences: (1) an

assimilation of local traits into the dominant Chinese culture; and (2) conservation

and development of traditional Vietnamese culture and identity, while absorbing and

acculturating external cultures due to the demand for Vietnamese daily life and

historical situation. He also asserts that the second tendency was emerged during


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2.3.3. Vietnamese housing during the French colonial time and Vietnam

War

After settling colonial rule in Vietnam, the French divided the country into three

regions for convenient exploitation and management. The division was, however,

said to be based on a rationale suitable to the climatic characteristics of traditional

architecture, regional and human geography (Nguyen, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2010).

During this time, Vietnamese culture, society and custom interplayed with Western

cultures that the French brought into the country. Accordingly, traditional

architecture was acculturated with French architectural styles.

During about one hundred years of colonialisation in Vietnam, the French created a

legacy of colonial architecture in Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi (the north), Hue (the

central), and Saigon (the south - presently known as Ho Chi Minh City) (Malarney,

2001). According to Malarney (2001), these cities were well planed by the colonial

authorities, with the design of impressive public buildings and private homes along

wide, tree-covered avenues. Many new architectural styles were introduced into the

country, including the use of new materials of concrete, cement, steel, and iron that

encouraged affluent classes of people to build their houses for both achieving the


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traditional Vietnamese culture and architecture (Tran et al., 2011). After 1920, this

trend of architecture was applied to the designs for public buildings and villas, which

served several affluent groups including French authority officers and commercial

merchants.

Figure 2.2.Influence of French architectural styles in a house in Quang Nam. The


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(Malarney, 2001). The dormitory housing in the north was copied from models of

Soviet apartment complexes, built to house the military, state factory workers and

civil servants. Since 1954 (and pursued more vigorously since 1975), there has been

a state-sponsored program of building many blocks of dormitory housing

throughout the north and the country subsequently (De Meulder & Shannon, 2010).

In the south, most of the American-style buildings were constructed for offices and

public buildings rather than for residential purposes. Housing projects were primarily

conducted in urban areas. In rural areas, there was a lack of housing developments

due to the war (Nguyen & Le, 2008).

In the south of Vietnam, Saigon, known as Ho Chi Minh City after the national

reunification, was the capital. Saigons architecture was influenced from principles of

Modernism, which were introduced by new generations of architects who graduated

from overseas (Nguyen, 2012a). Many buildings, mainly multi-storey public offices

such as libraries, administrative palaces, and universities, were designed with a

combination of a functionalist approach using new materials of glass and concrete

and a traditional tropical design. These buildings established a modern type of

Vietnamese tropical architecture (Nguyen, 2012b). Therefore, although residential


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architecture that is designed for humans, for people who live and interact inside its

spaces. Therefore, socio-cultural implications are embedded in the house through

the organisation of living spaces. King (1998) says that human social and symbolic

forms of family organisation are reflected and structured in the house.

There has been extensive research on Vietnamese traditional housing, primarily

done by Vietnamese scholars. However, the research concentrates on describing the

collection of vernacular dwellings in various Vietnamese regions rather than

providing intensive analysis of spatial organisation. Some of the publications, for

example Understanding the History of Vietnams Architecture (Ngo, 2008) and

Traditional Dwelling-house of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups (Nguyen, 1994), have

further discussions on the cultural values of vernacular houses. One architectural

book about Hoi-An, an ancient port town in Central Vietnam with traditional types of

urban houses, is Architecture of Hoi-An Ancient Town by the Institute of

International Culture - Showa Women's University (2003) and is viewed as a

complete study on the construction details of ancient houses for the purpose of

conservation.

Vietnamese traditional housing has obtained a variety of typical features in terms of


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using local materials;

applying a high roof pitch;

employing semi-open spaces;

optimising appropriate orientation;

building dwellings on stilts; and

integrating with natural landscape.

Use of local available materials not only becomes a unique feature of vernacular

Vietnamese houses but also reveal the owners wealth potential and economic

prosperity (Nguyen & Nguyen, 1995). Prosperous owners obtained the house with

wall and roof frames made of forest timber found in the vicinity of the site. In some

farming areas, available rustic materials were combined together for construction;for example, bamboo and rattan for framing, coir and coconut husks for wall

insulation, and thatch and rice stems for roofing (Sung, 1999). These woodless

timbers (Figure 2.3) were popularly used because they are available and able to

grow quickly in normal conditions (Woolley & Kimmins, 2000). Earth materials in

many forms such as compressed dried clay brick, fired brick, and earth covers on


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recognised for welcoming guests, having meals, working casually, serving family

weddings and lunar New Year festivals, in combination with other inside spaces and

yard (Nguyen et al., 2010). It provides a threshold for guests before accessing

inside private spaces of the family. A deep overhang, which is usually found in

traditional Vietnamese houses, is an effective shading element protecting the house

from direct sunlight, draining rainwater, and regulate the interior microclimate

(Pham, Nguyen, & Tran, 2006). In case the house has limited and few windows

opening to the outside due to being built in a dense urban area, a sky-well or an

air-well is usually used, located in the centre of the house to capture natural

ventilation and daylight into internal spaces.

Appropriate orientation for housing is optimised, usually south in many regions of

Vietnam, where it can induce cool and fresh breezes from regular monsoon

directions or from the sea (Nguyen, Nguyen, & Ta, 2007). In Vietnam, positioning

the house with the long axis to the east and west will avoid high solar heat gain and

make the house airy. Houses that face south can achieve many benefits from the

nature on site including getting cool winds, avoiding sunlight, and integrating with

natural landscape. Vietnam has many proverbs related to daily experiences from


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Figure 2.3.A peasant house in Tra Vinh Province built with nipa-leave roof and

bamboo frame. The photograph was taken in 2011 by the author.


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Protecting a house from rain and solar heat is important for tropical designs. It can

be achieved by using various types of horizontal or vertical shading devices

according to the house orientation (Pham et al., 2006). According to traditional

experiences, a horizontal overhang is used on the southern faade and induces

natural ventilation. Natural air flow enhances thermal comfort for home occupants

without using energy-intensive machines. A system of ventilators in walls, and

louvred windows and doors can provide air flows inside the house. In particular,

when the windows and doors are closed, the application of a louvred system can

allow the wind to pass through.

Integrating the house with surrounding gardens is a way to cool the breezes before

accessing the interior (Pham et al., 2006). In many regions of Vietnam, a diverse

variety of tropical plants and trees are available for landscaping the site. Home

gardens are known as a traditional implementation, incorporated with the dwelling

in the livelihood of Vietnamese people (Luu, Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, & Phan,

2002). Vietnamese people prefer to create trellises and pergolas for plants and

vegetables, which provide home food production and shade the living space (Figure

2.7) Trc trng cau, sau trng chui (Planting palm at front, and banana at rear)


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called Bat Trang, in the outskirt of Hanoi. Phuong also explores the changing

elements and tendencies to the villages houses under influences of socio-economic

development and urbanisation in this rural area. Working and living spaces in the

houses are amongst the elements suffered from the economic change.

Figure 2.6.An on-stilt house near a road in the Mekong River Delta. The photograph


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Nguyen et al. (2010) assert that familys activity and structure are reflected through

the layout and organisation of site, yard, and main and auxiliary spaces, which all

orient into the altar of ancestors located in the centre of the house. Despite its

internally-oriented character, a traditional Vietnamese house is an open structure. In

contrast to Western closed housing spaces for keeping warm, Vietnamese dwelling

is open to achieve indoor ventilation and a harmony with the outside environment

(Tran, 1999). Working and living in opened spaces, besides climatic adaptive issues,

can connect people together in the family (Alexander, Ishikawa, & Silverstein,

1977). Furniture is thus moveable to suit open spaces for occupants flexible

activities.

In Vietnamese culture, except everyday practices of the occupants, the two most

important activities in the household are worshipping the ancestors and welcoming

guests (Tran, 1999). Therefore, the central compartments of traditional Vietnamese

housing are dedicated for these purposes. The altar of the ancestors is located

behind the guest table in the same space. The house has a structure of

compartments, which are usually in odd numbers, based on the belief that these

numbers can bring good luck for the family (Ngo, 2008). Ngo says that the wing


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from the outside world have been used in the construction, which appears less

adaptable and more vulnerable to the regional climate. Moreover, living needs in the

new conditions of economic development influence the use of spaces in the house.

The following section will review the transformation in Vietnamese housing under

the impact of economic change.

2.3.5. Vietnamese housing after the economic reform

Due to socio-economic development, industrialisation and modernisation havegradually influenced the preservation of cultural values in traditional housing (Sung,

1999). Imported materials and borrowed construction methods have greatly

replaced traditional ones and resulted in reducing the resilience of contemporary

housing to the local climate. It has intensified that building codes and regulations of

most South-east Asian nations that have been borrowed from the West without

appropriate critique (Hassan, 2002). Western-style buildings with the use of new

materials have been copied and applied to Vietnam, regardless the dissimilarity of

climatic condition and social-cultural context. Similarly, modern Vietnamese housing

has rapidly changed since 1986 when the National Communist Party reformed the

policy to stimulate economic development of the country. In this study, houses built


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modern forms and materials without referring to traditional values including socio-

environmentally adaptive design (Duong, 2009; Le, 2008).

In Vietnamese cities, the morphology of urban architecture has rapidly changed

since the economic reform. Waibel (2009) predicts an emergence of new

consumers, as the result of economic transformation in Vietnamese society, has

influenced the reduction of ecological footprints in the country. Many affluent

inhabitants can afford to buy existing houses and then demolish them for new

constructions as they have desired. This has resulted in destruction of many

traditional houses that were hundreds of years old. The appearance of many new

types of houses such as shop-houses or tube houses, with multiple floor levels on a

narrow frontage, is found in many urban and rural areas.

Dinh and Groves (2006) explain an example of the unsustainable relationship

between a changing form and living purposes in a shop-house on a street in Hanois

Ancient Quarter by stating that far fewer people usually live in these new taller

shop-houses: generally the size of the building is not about necessity, but about

expressing wealth (p. 126). Urban land is now divided into narrow lots for tube

houses along two sides of the street, and today, more than 80% of tube houses


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to build more houses in the whole country have been rocketing exponentially. In the

Program for Urban Developmentconducted in Ho Chi Minh City alone, the Department

of Construction of Ho Chi Minh City (2010) predicts that 100 to 120 million square

metres of new residential floor area (or seven to eight million square metres of floor

area each year) will be provided from 2011 to 2025 to meet the demands for dwellings.

In Hanoi, the implementation of the economic reform policy has resulted in a housing

boom in metropolitan areas, together with other impacts on the built environment

(Gough & Tran, 2009; Quang & Kammeier, 2002). The boom in housing construction

market requires more professional participation to increase the quantity of dwellings in

many cities of Vietnam. Therefore, the engagement of many parties including

architects, professional designers, and owner-designers in the housing design process is

an inevitable result from the potential of the Vietnamese market-oriented economy.

Balderstone and Logan (2003) assert that post-reform European-style dwellings,

either single- or multiple-storey, have been built with reinforced concrete frame

walled by masonries of cement blocks or bricks, in a process without any support of

building regulation. Both professionals and owners have used these new kinds of

materials to create their elegant and luxury housing, without addressing the


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Figure 2.8.Shop-houses (or tube houses) developed on a street in Ho Chi Minh

City. The photograph was taken in 2010 by the author.


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It is necessary to study the dominant tendency of housing design in pre- and post-

reform periods to identify cultural characteristics of the Vietnamese house and apply

them into the contemporary housing design. These characteristics are intrinsic to

occupants activity and interaction, which are manifested through the spatial layout

of the house. The study on the organisation of space in Vietnamese housing design

during the periods of contemporary history helps to define the social activity and

interaction of the occupants. This provides both challenges and opportunities for

those in the design domain to seek more applicable approaches of sustainability and

regionalism.

The participation of the designers with their trained knowledge of spatial organisation

and housing design could, to some extent, vary a traditional state of the language of

spaces which is implied in pre-reform housing and create new adaptive characteristics

for Vietnamese housing in the post-reform period. It means that a kind of post-reform

house would be produced to accommodate new opportunities, constraints and

sensitivities.

2.4. Interpretation of the organisation of housing space


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Using space syntax, one can configure living spaces of a house or a building,

typically in its floor plans, based on the act of turning the continuous space into a

connected set of discrete units (Bafna, 2003, p. 17). The spatial configuration will

reflect the effective patterns of different layouts in which the people move (Hillier &

Tzortzi, 2006, p. 283). The configuration of the house is then redrawn into a graph

that shows the spaces as nodes and the direct access through any two spaces with

a line connecting their respective nodes. The graph also reveals the hierarchical

relationship of spaces by mapping the nodes spaces vertically on lower and upper

levels of hierarchies (or called the level of depths as per Hillier and Tzortzi (2006,

p. 285)) based on their positions with respect to a root space, which is normally an

outside space. The total depth of the root space from all other spaces is the

measure of its degree of integration in a complex. The relation between each space

and all the others in the layout of a house is reflected through these integrationvalues (Hillier & Tzortzi, 2006, p. 285).

Using space syntax technique, Bafna (2003) points out that:

converting the space to discrete configuration is useful because different

labels can be applied to its individual parts; these parts then can be assigned


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spaces rather than identifying an intrinsic rationale of spatial relationships which are

created by occupants. Therefore, space syntax is only significant for a prediction of

the design proposals of buildings, creating spatial layouts that encourage occupants

to walk and use in spaces. What this study investigates is an interpretivist housing

design which focuses on understandings of lived spaces in which occupants use and

carry out their activities in the everyday life.

2.4.2. Approaching to culturally-sensitive architecture

There has not been the research on the analysis of the organisation of living spaces

in Vietnamese housing, particularly housing built after the economic reform in 1986.

This study applies a new methodological approach to interpret the rule of spatial

organisation rather than using space syntax technique. The selection of the

appropriate methodology is based on an aim that lived spaces of Vietnamese

housing can explicitly be analysed through what they have been conceived by

designers in relation to changes of the Vietnamese historical context. The new

approach can explicate how the occupants make their decisions on the design of

spaces and how they live, interact, and behave in the spaces. However, before

understanding the lived spaces in housing, it is necessary to review the roles of


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designs for the country not only protect the environment and provide better living

conditions for inhabitants but also mitigate the impacts of tropical extreme weather

events and climate change. However, the application of sustainable developments

to Vietnam requires a deliberate consideration of critical regionalism. It means that

the application of sustainability principles, with an introduction of new materials and

technologies, should be appropriate to the regional culture and climate, and

accepted by indigenous inhabitants customs and needs. Sustainability principles

should provide design creativity, adaptable to Vietnamese traditional values that

have been transmitted over many generations.

Critical regionalism plays an important role in engaging culturally-sensitive views to

Vietnamese housing designs. InVernacular Architecture and Regional Design, Heath

(2009) states that [regionalism] is an attitude toward design that endeavors to

bring about positive change through the introduction of appropriate technologies

(p. xiii). Regionalism is considered a complementary factor rather than a constraint

to trends towards advanced technologies and sustainable developments (Tzonis et

al., 2001). Culture evolves continuously and shapes housing patterns in a specific

context. The transformations on these patterns, due to the new application of


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Summary

This chapter has characterised a range of issues in relation to international culturaland environmental sustainability, concepts of regionalist housing design in

Southeast Asian countries, and the process of housing evolution in Vietnam before

and after the economic reform with its features of living spaces organised in the

houses. These topics helped to identify the problem of contemporary housing

design in Vietnam which is unsustainable and inappropriate from a regionalist

perspective. Additionally, this chapter has criticised a positivist approach of space

syntax in understanding the structure of housing spaces. It has considered gaps of

knowledge from three following aspects.

There has been little research on the methods and implications of the

organisation of housing space in Vietnam as the key factor of contemporary

housing design to respond to environmental and socio-cultural contexts;

There is a lack of socio-environmental models of housing to encourage

housing design towards a critical regionalist approach;

With the trend of critical regionalism, variations and transformations on


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Chapter 3. Methodology

Chapter Three: Methodology

The previous chapter addressed the problem of spatial organisation in contemporary

Vietnamese housing, which appears less responsive to cultural and environmental

sustainability principles in Vietnam. This chapter aims to provide a conceptual and

philosophical framework for interpreting the occupants use and organisation ofliving spaces in Vietnamese housing so that contemporary housing can be designed

for Vietnamese occupants. The framework is established based on an investigation

of relevant philosophies of critical regionalism and Eastern philosophy, and a critique

of architectural design research. In fact, it will take a critical view to critical

regionalism and Daoism in understanding the ways in which Vietnamese housing

spaces are holistically organised in adaptation to regional climate and culture. It will

consider how the study of Vietnamese housing designs links to positivist and

interpretivist approaches, theories of Lefebvre and Bourdieu, statistical view and

ethnomethodology or semiotics. In this chapter, it is necessary to:


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3.1. Philosophies influencing the belief of study

Philosophies help to consolidate the belief and value of undertaking the research

and elaborate how evidence in social reality should be collected, interpreted, and

applied (Davison, 1998). Scientists use the term epistemology to indicate that their

research employs philosophies of knowledge to interpret and study the phenomena,

reality and the world. Epistemology is important in social research because it

involves the philosophy of how to understand the world. Proctor (1998) argues that

philosophies of knowledge, when they are explored in a research study, can assist a

researcher to understanding of the interrelationships between ontological (what is

the nature of reality?), epistemological (what can be known?), and methodological

(how can the researcher discover what she or he believes can be known?) levels of

enquiry (p. 74). To explicate the interrelationships of this triad, Byrne (2001) states

that a researchers personal view needs to be aligned with a philosophy that

governs the methodology and methods for a concrete research process. In this

study, relevant philosophies are identified in response to epistemological

assumptions of how the organisation of domestic spaces can be described and

understood. They involve critical regionalism and the Eastern philosophy of yin-


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reflecting the characteristics of a region, contains locally tangible and intangible

elements that are well-adapted to the contextual conditions. For instance, in a

responsive way to the surrounding environment, indigenous architecture obtains

traditional practices and techniques, which provide regional nuances and identities,

and are handed down by generations. Cultural and architectural meanings are

distinctive across geographical areas because inhabitants have to adapt to regional

conditions of climate, typology, traditional skills, and techniques, etc.

The concern of cultural homogeneity and degradation or culture without diversity

due to the impact of universalised, modernised and unsustainable development has

been identified in the literature. Ndubisi (2008) states that homogeneity of regional

cultural values, together with urban sprawl, environmental deterioration, and social

and economic inequity, have been exacerbated by metropolitan growth. Ricoeur

(1961, p. 277) realises that it is a fact: every culture cannot sustain and absorb the

shock of modern civilisation. While analysing a dialectical interrelationship between

civilisation and culture, Frampton (1985, p. 18) concedes that the victory of

universal civilisation over locally inflected culture and asserts that the ground in

which the mytho-ethical nucleus of a society might take root has become eroded by


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become modern and to return to sources; how to revive an old, dormant civilisation

and take part in universal civilisation (Ricoeur, 1961, p. 277).

In order to apply critical regionalism in designing architecture, the identification of

unique characteristics in a region is necessary.Built environment is viewed as all

artificial objects and contexts that physically and socially serve human needs,

ranging in scale from planning, landscaping and designing of cities and houses

(Birkeland, 2008). Housing design belongs to the built environment, with the

function for occupants activities and interactions. Over the time, housing patterns

have been shaped by the design and construction to specific regional conditions and

climate, and co-evolved with cultural transformation and continuity. Therefore,

housing in different regions forms their traditional characteristics in response to the

climate and culture.

Critical regionalism is a vehicle to promote modern housing, which is designed to

respect traditional characteristics in terms of its contextual and climatic adaptation,

while applying modern techniques. Traditional housing, according to Beng (2001),

can correspond to the evolutional rule of contesting, transforming, resisting and

inventing, which constitute the characteristics. Not all traditional characteristics can


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the literature. Thus it leads to a situation in which Vietnamese housing designers

have not identified suitable ways to make a connection between traditional and

modern characteristics for new architecture in Vietnam (Le, 2010).

While seeking a way to connect traditional values and modern developments in

housing design in Vietnam, it is necessary to view the design in a holistic entity of

harmony between two distinctive oppositions. The design should include the

combination of tradition and modernity, nature and society, privacy and community,

internal relationship and external relationship, etc. The eastern philosophy of yin-

yang below provides a value of studying spatial organisation in Vietnam.

3.1.2. Eastern philosophy of yin-yang in harmonising nature and society

As reviewed in the literature, Vietnam has had a long history that has been

influenced by Chinese culture. Chinese norms and philosophies have, therefore,

been guiding the way in which Vietnamese people interact and behave. However,

Vietnamese people knew how to select and distil appropriate principles to their

lifestyles, customs and beliefs. One of the most influential philosophies in

Vietnamese life is the concept of yin-yang, which roots from Chinese Taoism or

Daoism. Therefore, yin-yang plays an important role in Vietnamese cultural


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of phong,which means wind, and thuy, which means water. Wind is dominated by

a yang force because it is motive and dynamic, while water is dominated by yin for

its stillness. The combination of phongand thuy in housing design helps to take a

harmonious relationship between the two elements of dynamic yang and stable yin

in a house. In combining so, living spaces which have their attributes of yin or yang

are organised in concordance amongst themselves and with surrounding

environment. Therefore, principles of phong thuy have been applied in Vietnamese

housing design and spatial organisation. They provide guidance of what should be

done and should not be done in the design of spaces, such as the avoidance of the

central location of kitchen in the house, so that the spaces can achieve a

harmonious relationship in the house (Nguyen, 2008). In this study, the concept of

yin-yang helps to understand the structure of spaces that Vietnamese people

designed for their interactions over time. It relates to an enquiry of how thisconcept provides beneficial values to the inhabitants.

Harmony between nature and society

Yin-yang philosophy provides an understanding that all objects and artefacts contain

their opposite attributes. However, they are transformable in a united form. This


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location of Vietnam in a tropical zone, it is necessary to study how the critical

regionalist approach has been applied in some tropical areas. This study is also

appropriate to an argument that cultural dimension derives from how housing is

designed to respond to the climate.

Tropical regionalist approach for architecture in Vietnam

Different climates are categorised based on the atmospheric parameters of

temperature, humidity, wind, native vegetation and so on that best expresses local

climate (Hyde, 2000; McGregor & Nieuwolt, 1998; Wong & Yu, 2009). The

commonly used Kppen climate classification system provides a division of the world

climate into five major zones tropical climate; dry climate; temperate climate;

continental climate; and polar climate (Wong & Yu, 2009, p.3). Tropical climate is a

hot climatic zone that is located within the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

However, the tropical climatic zone is not exactly confined by the latitudes and

some typical tropical areas can be identified further from 2326 (McGregor &

Nieuwolt, 1998; Wong & Yu, 2009).

According to Wong and Chen (2009), climate conditions in the tropical zones are not

similar. There are two main categories - warm and humid climate, and hot and dry


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Figure 3.1. Boundary of tropical climate between the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn

where Vietnam is located. (Picture by Yu Chen extracted from Wong & Yu, 2009,

p.4).

Within such particular climatic and environmental conditions, tropical architecture

reveals its characteristics which both adapt to ecological environment and increase

cultural meanings. Some analyses of tropical regionalist designers work in the


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combining appropriate modern technologies could make De Silvas architectures

work properly and sustainably in the regional conditions.

The reconciliation between traditional and modern elements enables to constitute

unique characteristics of architecture that reflect the evolution and continuity of

regional culture. In his article, Stagno (2001, p. 174) presents his views on how to

take into account the role of both tendencies, the retro or the tradition and the

avant-garde or the modernity, in the design of buildings, especially those located

in the tropics. He highlights four criteria that can create a true contemporary

architecture (Stagno, 2001, p. 176): categories about human and species needs for

living in the tropics, adaptation of tropical housing to nature, tropical architectonic

and material use, and spatial planning for tropical housing. He discusses sustainable

issues in building design in relation to tropical regionalism in sub-sections of each

criteria category.

The use of modern technologies in architectural design, while respecting cultural

traditions of tropical indigenous architecture in the works of Minnette De Silva,

exemplify an achievement of tropical regionalist approach that promotes

architecture to be sustainably responsive to the regional culture and environment.


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tropical climate allows the design to maximise openness and ventilation. Building

occupants thus live in a direct contact with their surroundings and experience the

feeling of openness and closeness to the nature (Stagno, 2001). Therefore, a sense

of community is enhanced with such designs because the occupants have

opportunities to meet and contact with their neighbours and community.

Built to m eet the social needs: Occupants living activities and interactions are a

basis to establish and create functional spaces in a dwelling. The spaces serve

family and other activities according to traditions of inhabitancy and environmental

responsiveness. In their daily life, the occupants use spaces for guest welcoming,

living, working, entertaining, and relaxing. Moreover, ritual activities are necessary

to intensify beliefs and spirits for the occupants. Spaces play a crucial role to

connect all family members together and make relationships to community. A

household, therefore, becomes a structure covering a collection of functional spaces

to meet the living needs and activities of the occupants.

In fact, the organisation of living spaces depends on how housing adapts to natural

conditions, climate, and the socio-cultural context. For example, maximum openness

in tropical architecture becomes inevitable requirements of climatic adaptation and


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2003). Furthermore, the locations of spaces, especially sacred spaces, in the house

are appropriately selected to achieve spiritual well-being.

Sustainable design for architecture in Vietnam

Although there are many environmental issues about which sustainable

development is concerned, the focus of this study is about the design for cultural

and contextual appropriateness, which is considered an intersection between critical

regionalism and sustainability. Bothcritical regionalism and sustainable development

emphasise design involving nature and climate. While critical regionalism advocates

a modern design of culturally and environmentally sensitive architecture without

reverting to traditional vernaculars, sustainable development concerns about how to

provide a healthy and productive design for occupants activities and protect

environment to meet the needs of present and future generations (UNCED, 1992,

Principles 1, 3, & 4). Critical regionalist approach encourages a design using

geographical context where buildings will be located, including the optimisation of

natural systems to serve the buildings. Similarly, ecological sustainable design aims

to use intimate knowledge of particular place and ecological accounting to make

decisions for the most ecological possibility of the design (Van der Ryn & Cowan,


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resources use in the built environment (Birkeland, 2002). Van der Ryn and Cowan

(1996, p. x) state that eco-logical design is any form of design that minimises

environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes. The

principles of design with nature consider ecological systems as an essential

metaphor, a model or a measure to learn and practice (Van der Ryn & Cowan,

1996).

Therefore, architecture that is responsive to climate and environment is an

important goal from the viewpoints of both critical regionalism and ecological

sustainable development. It starts from basic decisions that the design should

respond to local conditions and the regional climate so that architecture can achieve

unique characteristics of the regions context, as well as avoiding increasing

environmental impacts of buildings, while making occupants comfortable. A climate

responsive building becomes more locally distinctive by using the natural systems

available on the site, rather than requiring energy-consumed equipment, which is

mostly used in internationalist architectural styles for regulating indoor thermal

comfort. The use of climate responsive housing is the way inhabitants to live in a

harmony with nature. The local experience of inhabitancy constitutes occupants


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in houses rather than enclosing the volume with walls. Instead of the walls, the

layers may be conceived as meshes or trellis screens, and freely located as required

to adapt to the need and the desire of occupants (Soon, 2001). Soon argues that

spatial differentiation in a new tropical aesthetic is based on variable layering and

the use of transitional zones, with different degrees of transparency and

connectivity.

As can be seen, the strategy of orientation and zoning plays a significant role in the

design for climatic adaptation. However, zoning spaces in a house relates to how

occupants interact and live according to their cultural lifestyles and symbolic values.

It coincides with the conception that tropical architecture reflects three main

aspects: (1) regional expression, (2) performance and (3) materials and means

of building (Philip, 2001, p. 230). According to Philip, regional expression is viewed

as a result of responding to climatic, social and cultural requirements and the use of

appropriate materials and means of building. The social and cultural requirements

are revealed through the organisation of spaces. The performance of building

relates to the provision of comfort levels and convenience for social and cultural

activities in spaces. Therefore, understanding of the whole social issues and physical


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to reflect their lifestyles, beliefs and socio-cultural meanings. It is a basis to develop

sustainable housing for Vietnam which is appropriate to both cultural values and

physical climate.

3.2. Critique of architectural design research

Research on architectural design requires a selection of appropriate strategies and

methods. They help to provide answers for the research questions. In this study, it

is necessary to distinguish methods used for data analysis, revolving around the

oppositions of positivist and interpretivist approaches, theories of Lefebvre and

Bourdieu in the study of space, a statistical approach and ethnomethodological or

semiotic approaches.

3.2.1. Positivist approach versus interpretivist approach

a. Positivist approach to the understanding of facts

Positivism and interpretivism are both major research philosophies that have been

recognised in Western science. Interpretivism is also known as the anti-positivist

approach because of its rejection of positivism, which is concerned with absolute

fact and truth in the academic arena of scientific perspective (Blaikie, 2000).


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b. Interpretivist approach to understand the underlying patterns of social

world

Interpretivism rejects the concerns of positivism by identifying the patterns and

correlations of social reality. Blaikie (2000) asserts that, from the interpretivist point

of view, there are arguments that the patterns and correlations established from

positivist approaches are not understandable on their own. He argues that it is

indispensable to understand what meanings or motives social actors provide to the

everyday accounts leading to forming such patterns. Through the exploration and

experience on the social reality, the meanings and motives given in everyday

peoples actions can be understood (Davison, 1998). Interpretivists, therefore,

understand the causal mechanisms rather than the causal relationships in the

specific reality which is implied by social interactions (Ann Chih, 1998). The causal

mechanisms of the social world are discovered when its members participate in the

context. In fact, interpretivists consider the reality or the social world as the world

interpreted and experienced from inside and describe and understand it using a

subjective and insider view rather than outsider position (Blaikie, 2000, p. 115).

The insider view is significant in understanding the social reality because,


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can influence and orient to others selves in the social relationship. The meanings

here are exposed to the outside world, similarly to the meanings of actions and

activities done by groups of people or agents. It is argued here that activities and

behaviours of occupants in home are social interactions conducted amongst family

members, or amongst occupants and visitors. Even though there is only one single

occupant in a home, the activities they intend to act and behave are associated with

social cohesion, which provides meaningful signals to the community and

neighbourhood. For example, meeting friends in a home is a social interaction theowner possibly undertakes. However, this study will merely focus on social

interactions undertaken inside the household and how it influences the organisation

of sheltering space through a process of meaning translation between occupants

and designers.

The meanings of social interaction are what people or agents provide and deliver

through their interpretive processes of the setting. It is transferred to interactive

agents using various patterns of communication, interpretation and adjustment. The

means for undertaking social interaction between agents are numerous, including

non-verbal and verbal contacts to transform the communication and meaning. The

h h d l


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Abductive approach which is closely associated with interpretivist philosophy is

therefore a suitable strategy for the whole study. It is constructed based on the

interpretivist philosophy. Moreover, other relevant approaches and theories will

constitute a conceptual framework to answer the research questions. Among them,

the theories of Lefebvre and Bourdieu are important in relation to the study of

space.

3.2.2. Theories of Lefebvre and Bourdieu in the study of space

a. Lefebvre and the production of space

This section explores the work of French sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre,

one of the social theorists who has been influential on academic arena in many

fields of study, including geographers, urbanists, and cultural theorists in the

Anglophone world (Merrifield, 2006, p. xxxii). His book The Production of Space

(1991), written in French in 1974 and translated in English in 1991, shapes a

theoretical concept of the language of space. Lefebvre demonstrates a variety of

disciplines which can be applied to interpret the organisation of spaces in

Vietnamese housing. They are described as main points as follows.

Space is a product of social practice

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global, a trivialised space of daily interactions (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 288).

Representations of space or conceived space are a conceptualised space, the space

of scientists, planners, urbanists, technocractic subdividers and social engineers

(Lefebvre, 1991, p. 38). And representational spaces as lived spaces are spaces as

directly lived through its associated images and symbols, and hence the space of

inhabitants and users (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 39). These three conceptual spaces are

understood by Elden (2004) that the perceived space is physical or real space which

is generated and used; the conceived space is the space of knowledge or mentalcreation; while the lived space is the space modified in the using process and in

everyday life. In addition, Carp (2008) provides a clear explication of Lefebvres

conceptual triad of space, which is presented in Table 3.1 below.

Table 3.1. Lefebvres conceptual triad of space and examples, adapted from Carp

(2008, p. 133)

Field Aspects of triad Examples

Spatial practice Routes, destinations, way-finding,

modes of transport

Physical

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Lefebvre argues that space is a product of the society (Lefebvre, 1991). As the

social product, space is pertinently produced covering all facets of consideration by

different active groups of members. It is a social relationship that is, according to

Lefebvre (1991), inherent to the property relationships in relation to productive

forces, including technology and knowledge (p. 85). In short, social space is a

product created by society, incor

phuong ly thesis

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