Transformation of hue traditional garden houses in hue citadel area, vietnam

Transformation of Hue Traditional Garden Houses in Hue Citadel Area, Vietnam Ngoc Tung Nguyen Graduate Student The Master of Architecture Program, Faculty of Architecture Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand Email: Kts.nguyentung@gmail.com Abstract: This paper aims to clarify the typology and transformation process of Hue Traditional Garden Houses (HTGHs) in Hue citadel area, central Vietnam At the beginning, the paper provides brief history of Hue land and the formation of Hue Citadel, planned and constructed in Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) The paper clarifies the formation and typology of HTGHs in Hue, built in the earlier 19th century HTGHs are known as one of the most important elements contributing to the beauty and value of Hue cultural heritage Then, the study classifies the typology and their distribution in the citadel area based on the field survey of HTGHs in the citadel area From 96 surveyed houses, 58 houses were measured, while their habitants were interviewed In the last chapter, some recommendations and conclusions for further analyzing the transformation process of HTGHs in the citadel area Keywords: Hue Traditional Garden House, Hue Citadel, Typology, Transformation INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Hue, the capital of Nguyen (1802-1945), the last Dynasty in the history of Vietnam, is known as a garden city because of its greenery formed by green landscape, garden tombs, garden royal palaces and especially, traditional garden houses Houses in Hue, especially the traditional houses, always connected closely with gardens, which are metaphorically utilized as spaces for linking human with heaven Gardens could be found everywhere from the urban space to people dwelling houses and contribute to the gracefulness and attractiveness of Hue city Therefore, HTGHs are the integral element of Hue people’s life and spirit Whereas Nguyen Kings (1802-1945) lived in the Purple Forbidden City and their prior generation, Nguyen Lords (1558-1774) lived in their palaces, other members of royal family and highranking mandarins lived in HTGHs constructed around the palaces of Nguyen Lords and the citadel of Nguyen Dynasty Therefore, HTGHs are widely distributed within the area of Hue Citadel and areas around in ancient villages of Hue province such as the Kim Long, Vy Da, Phu Cat, and Nguyen Bieu Figure The location of Hue City Due to the evolution of Hue city, HTGHs in the citadel area have altered and demolished rapidly as the gradual decrease of Hue cultural value That why this paper focuses on the transformation of HTGHs in Hue Citadel area The objectives of this paper are to clarify the formation, typology of HTGHs and reveal the transformation of these houses in order to arriver some recommendations for conservation and contemporary use of HTGHs FORMATION OF HUE AND ITS CITADEL In 1802, Nguyen Anh unified the country and found the capital in Hue, where he came to the power as the first King of Nguyen Dynasty In the period of Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), Hue was the prosperous capital of Vietnam The citadel was constructed by the coordination of good city planning and auspicious belief derived from Nguyen Anh, French consultants, and a mandarin named Le Van Hoc, who studied architecture in France (Phan, 2002) In 1945, Nguyen dynasty was collapsed and the Capital was moved to Hanoi in North Vietnam After the war period (1945-1975), Hue has been the main city of Thua Thien Hue province of the unified Vietnam In 1993, Hue city was registered to be the World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO and it is growing as one of the main tourist destination in Vietnam The construction of the citadel was started by Gia Long King (1805-1820) and continued by Minh Mang King (1820-1841) based on Feng Shui principle (Figure 2), Vauban model, and the repetition of use of former palace site Figure 2: The influence of Feng Shui principle in Hue citadel At the beginning, the area within the citadel and outside the Imperial City was divided into 95 checkerboard quarters inhabitants is may assigned to the precinct of each quarter by Nguyen Dynasty In common, there have one or two royal buildings, garrison, or temple located in each precinct Most of royal offices are placed in the left side of the imperial City while other buildings for royal family are scattered around Other quarters, in which no building is constructed, are granted to mandarins and civilian for building dwelling houses When HTGHs were firstly built is still unclear, in the citadel area, several evident, however, assert that HTGHs had been formed during the period of Ming Mang King (1820-1841) The quote derived from “Ming Mang Chinh Yeu” (1993), which stated that when the King provided HTGHs to his princes: “Grand HTGHs for using as place of study and recreation Therefore, the princes should concentrate to their target…”However, these HTGHs are very big with more than five gians in Nha Chinh and front three gians were added Furthermore, the main use of these buildings is for study, recreation, and entertainment for the princes Therefore, they were called the palaces of royal family Until to the period of Thieu Tri Reign (1841-1847), mandarins and people could build their HTGHs for living if their financial abilities are permitted After the period of Tu Duc King (1847-1883), the French seizes control the city even though, as a nominal position, there still have nine Kings of Nguyen Dynasty after falling into French colonization From that time, many facilities and dwelling houses were built in the citadel area Without strict control, these situations made the lands in the citadel area were divided into many small plots In 1945, the last King, Bao Dai, declared the collapse of Nguyen Dynasty and Vietnam had been in the war state for resisting against the French colonialists for nine years (1945-1954), American colonialists and Puppet Regime for twenty years (1955-1975) The spatial organization of the citadel was heavily destroyed by war, while many royal buildings and people dwelling houses were also demolished After that, Hue citadel was attacked by huge influx of migrants They gradually built various types of dwelling houses and occupied the land in the citadel area, and also the land on the rampart wall Due to that situation, most of HTGHs in the citadel area were altered, while the land plots of them were transformed into variant configurations From this period, spatial organization of HTGHs have been transformed into various patterns following the need of inhabitants 3 STERRT PATTERN AND DISTRIBUTION OF FACILITIES There are two types of streets, which make the checkerboard layout of the citadel The first type is streets running in northwest – southeast axis, and the second type is streets running perpendicularly to the first type At present, the original checkerboard plan has been broken up by the proliferation of alley walls in several areas such as the area in the western Imperial City and the area near Tinh Tam group of pools behind the Imperial City This proliferation implicates the disintegration of land plot and also the growth of population Figure 3: Street pattern in Hue citadel Classification Width (meters) Survey covering Usage Open Street 9-12 Tarmac Residential access Shopping Street 9-12 Tarmac Shop-housing access Description of Townscape Open view of landscape & historic Monuments Heavy traffic-quick appearance of modern style Resident Street 5-9 Tarmac Residential-commercial access Hedge-appearance of garden houses and modern houses Alley wall 2-4 Tarmac-Gravel Residential access Hedge & Garden houses Illustrated feature Figure Classification of street system in Hue citadel Based on the different widths, physical features and usage patterns, the four types of streets can be identified: lane (alley wall shown in Figure 3), residential street, shopping street, and open street (Figure 3-4) These types of streets create the different features of HTGHs in the citadel Functions of HTGHs located in shopping streets and residential streets have been altered to fit the type of business ventures, while HTGHs in other streets have been gradual transformed due to various factors such as population growth Figure Classification of facilities in Hue citadel The distribution of facilities in the citadel area is shown in the Figure As showing in Figure 5, many facilities such as government and monument buildings concentrate in the area around the left side of the Imperial City where most of royal office buildings of Nguyen Dynasty were built in the past This phenomenon implicates that many dwelling houses (HTGHs) of the mandarins and royal family should be built around this area HTGHs of this area have not been transformed so much or if have, they have been transformed to the house for clan worship The reason is that the owners of these HTGHs are almost the descendents of royal family and mandarins of Nguyen dynasty so that they have consciousness to protect cultural value of their houses, and also they want to express the faithfulness to their ancestors On the other hand, HTGHs located around commercial areas and shopping streets have functions due to business ventures and the rise of land speculation, while functions of other HTGHs located around residential areas have been transformed due to the living pattern of contemporary residential dwelling houses such as small business ventures and population growth It can be included that the distribution of facilities in the citadel could influence the different purposes for usage of HTGHs in the citadel area SPATIAL ELEMENTS OF HTGHS AND THEIR ARRANGEMENTS The layout of HTGH is composed by gate and hedge, small alley, Binh Phong (Masonry screen), Be Can (basin), symbols of White Tiger and Green Dragon, Nha Chinh (main house), Nha Phu (Out house), and garden (Figure 6) In common, the arrangement between Nha Chinh and Nha Phu is followed Chinese letters such as Dinh (8), Cong (⊗), Nhat (!) and Khau (⎣) Figure Layout and plan of HTGH The spatial organization of HTGH is composed by following basic spatial units: G/L: Phong Khach / Sinh Hoat Chung (Guest room/Living room); W: Phong Tho (Worship space); B: Phong Ngu (Bedroom); K: Bep (Kitchen); D: Phong An (Dining room); Ba/Wc: Phong Tam / Ve Sinh (Bathroom/Toilet) In common, Phong Khach is laid in the front part of Nha Chinh around the middle gians facing to the main access It is a flexible multifunctional space that can serve as Sinh Hoat Chung, Phong An, and even Phong Ngu Phong Tho is placed in the center around the rear part of Nha Chinh It could be found in most of HTGHs Phong Ngu is normally laid in two chais (lean-to) The left chai near by Nha Phu is the Phong Ngu for women and also served as storage (S), while the right chai is the space for men and is used as Phong Ngu, working or studying room (Wo), or recreation room (R) Phong Ngu is not necessarily a spatial unit enclosed by solid walls However, Phong Ngu for woman can be partitioned space by plywood wall as when it is also used as storage also The large household with limited space always converts Phong Ngu into an open bedroom An open bedroom is laid in gians of Nha Chinh for man and guest, while open bedroom for woman is laid in Nha Phu Phong Bep, Phong An, and Storage are laid in Nha Phu Phong An is but usually share with Phong Khach in font of Phong Tho in middle gians Phong Tam / Ve Sinh and space for washing are normally placed outside in the rear of the buildings Figure Three main types of HTGHs TYPOLOGY OF HTGHs IN THE CITADEL AREA The basic classification is based on the number of gians in Nha Chinh of HTGHs HTGHs could be divided into types: Type A: one gian-two chais; Type B: three gians-two chais; and Type C: three gians (Figure 7) Based on 91 surveyed HTGHs in the citadel area, it can be asserted that the numbers of these types are not different so much: 35.2% (type A), 19.7% (type B), and 35.2% (type C) The simple way is used for identifying HTGHs is based on variation of faỗade elements, HTGHs could be divided into types of Nha Chinh based on different frontage wall, veranda columns or non-veranda columns, and one layer roof or multilayer roof of Nha Chinh and front veranda (Table 1) Type 1: The veranda columns in type stand on the perron while the roof extends to protect the veranda from the sun and rain In common, the width of verandas in this type is from 0.6 meters to 1.2 meters In some cases, the appearance of concrete veranda columns shows the transformation from wooden columns to new permanent material (concrete) such as A14, C13, and C16 (Figure of these HTGHs are shown in presentation) All main roofs of these houses are made of Liet roof (flat tiled roof) The typical feature is that wooden doors are placed in three gians for type B and type C, and one gian and two chais for type A All of them are symmetry in faỗade feature Table Classification of HTGHs based on faỗade features (Type A, B, and C are categorized in Figure 7) Types Classification Plywood wall/veranda columns/one-layer roof Total (name) 11 (A01, A03, A10, A14, B14, B15, B17, B19, B20, C13, and C26) Plywood wall/veranda columns/multi-layer roofs (A15, A27, B07, B10, B12, B13, B21, C05, and C17) Plywood wall/non veranda columns/one-layer roof (C16) Plywood wall/non veranda columns/multi-layer roof Brick wall/ veranda columns/ one-layer roof (A08, A11, A17, B27, A03, A10, A15, and A25) Brick wall/ veranda columns/multi-layer roof 48 (A02, A04, A05, A06, A07, A12, A13, A18, A20, A21, A22, A24, A26, A29, A31, B04, B05, B06, B08, B09, B11, B16, B18, B22, B23, B24, B25, C01, C02, C04, C07, C08, C09, C11, C12, C14, C18, C19, C20, C21, C22, C27, C28, C29, C31, and C32) Brick wall/non veranda columns/ one-layer roof 12 (A09, A19, A23, A25, A28, A30, A35, B26, C06, C24, and C30) Brick wall/non veranda columns/multi-layer roof (A16, B01, B02, and B03) Type 2: In this type, another roof covers the veranda except main roof of Nha Chinh In original, the veranda roof has crap-shell shape (B10) However, the veranda roofs in almost houses have flat shape with iron or concrete materials at the present The main roofs are made of variant materials such as Liet roof, zigzag roof, and iron roof The height of all veranda roofs is shorter than main roofs With size from 1.2 meters to meters, the verandas in this type are larger than those of the first type All veranda roofs are sustained by row of columns, which are made of permanent materials such as concrete and brick material However, in some cases, we can realize the original veranda columns are made of wood (B13) Type 3: There is only one case in this type However, the purpose for building this house is to commemorate the late president of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh This is, maybe, the reason that why the faỗade feature of this house is different from other HTGHs in the citadel Type 4: There is no case of HTGHs having plywood wall, non-veranda columns, and onelayer roof This phenomenon can implicate that HTGHs in origin should have veranda columns for sustaining the roof Type 5: Based on faỗade observation, new materials of frontage walls are added in some cases (A08, C10, and C25) All new walls are made of brick except metal material in the case C25 Most of roofs in this type still keep Liet roof while the veranda columns are concrete Among these houses, the case C03 is quite followed French architectural style Type 6: The number of houses in this type is the most (52.7%) In common, this type is similar to type with more private roof covering the veranda The veranda roofs are made by flat roof of concrete, metal or iron material However, pitched roofs of veranda can be observed in some houses (A29, B04, B05, and B18) Therefore, it can be imaged that the flat roof could be transformed from pitched roof in some cases In some cases, there has another roof (iron in common), which is used for covering the front yard of the house Most of houses in this type have veranda located in front of gians and in some cases, they are constructed very complex according to French style (A13, B04, and B05) With new brick wall in faỗade, these houses are similar to other residential dwelling houses in Hue if we not observe through into the house for recognizing the wooden structure Type 7: The same as type 6, the faỗade features of these houses are similar to other residential dwelling houses in Hue at present However, elements of the faỗade such as door and windows are arranged symmetrically and the roofs extend in front of the wall about 0.6 metres and made of different types of material such as Liet roof, zigzag roof, and ridge roof The brick frontage wall made these houses look like heavily and in what way, they reduce themselves the historical value of the houses Among these houses, there are three cases that the owners built two storey houses and the wooden structures are reconstructed on the second floor (A25, A32, and C30) It can be concluded that those of HTGHs in this type are altered the most Type 8: All houses in this type have gian in front of Nha Chinh Even thought the facades are renovated, these front gians maybe constructed as the same time with Nha Chinh From Table 1, only one HTGH has plywood wall with non-veranda columns while the HTGHs having brick wall with veranda columns and multi-layer roofs are the most predominant group Based on the interview with inhabitants, it is realized that most of veranda columns have transformed from wooden material to concrete material It maybe explained relating to the harsh climate in Hue region The Liet roof (flat tiled roof) has also transformed to temporary roof such as zigzag roof or iron roof These phenomena also have been happened in frontage wall when brick wall has transformed from plywood wall The Figure represents the typical HTGH of each type, categorized in Table In this figure, the ability of material transformation on facade is represented the horizontal line from plywood wall to brick wall, while the vertical line represents the ability of transformation on faỗade Figure Transformation in faỗade of HTGHs Figure Transformation of residential time from one-layer roof to multi-layer roof The number of HTGHs in type 3, 4, and is a few so that it is difficult to identify the alteration of these types Among 91 HTGHs above, 58 HTGHs were made interview with inhabitant for getting information of residential time (Figure 9) In Figure 9, the different average of each type represents the transformation ability of built time of HTGHs The average levels of residential time of all types except type are in the period from 1885 to 1945 These levels also prove the conclusion representing in Figure (1910 of type to 1930 of type to 1970 of type 7, and 1925 of type to 1932 of type 6) In type and type 6, the variances of them are wide because some HTGHs of these types are transformed from other types Figure 10 Distribution of HTGHs in the citadel area DISTRIBUTION OF HTGHS IN THE CITADEL AREA It is realized that most HTGHs distribute into four areas that are shown in Figure 10 In common, all types of HTGHs except type concentrate in the left side of the Imperial City and few HTGHs scatter surrounding within the citadel This phenomenon could be priority predicted because the left side area was the place of many royal office buildings of Nguyen dynasty in past where mandarins went to work in daily time Therefore, many dwelling houses of mandarins (HTGHs) were built around this area for advantage of their activities HTGHs of type are the most predominant and distribute equally into four areas above, especially area 3, 4, and 1a are concentrated by HTGHs of type while area 1b is concentrated by HTGHs of type and type In addition, Le Thanh Ton St is the place having the most concentrate of HTGHs CONCLUSION This paper is one part of the research namely “Transformation of Hue Traditional Garden Houses in Hue Citadel Area, Hue, Vietnam” As discussed above, the transformation of HTGHs will be provided based on an analysis of those HTGHs from the faỗade elements to the layout, then come into the spatial organization of them Because of the time limitation, this paper has just been in the analysis of faỗade elements of HTGHs However, the obtainment of this paper can be provided as following HTGHs in the citadel area are known as the traditional houses established in early19th century, which are very important element that contribute to the culture of Hue heritage The formation of Hue Citadel has the influence on the distribution, formation and alteration of HTGHs in the citadel area The formation and establishment of street pattern made the disintegration of land plot that can be implicated the growth of population in dwelling houses The distribution of facilities can influence the usage functions of HTGHs in different areas within the citadel Based on the observation in faỗade elements, HTGHs could be divided into types shown in Table The transformation ability of built time of HTGHs is provided in Figure 8-9 This situation can be the rationale for analyzing the layout and spatial organization of HTGHs in next step It also signifies the ability of transformation directions of HTGHs in the citadel due to various needs of inhabitants The distribution of HTGHs in the citadel represents the transformation process of each area in the citadel area, which are the rationale for analysis of the built time of HTGHs Furthermore, Based on the distribution of HTGHs, the directions for conservation and application of those HTGHs in each area can be provided The above conclusion is the prior step of this research to concentrate the transformation of HTGHs in deeper level and to get preliminary approaches for conservation and contemporary use of HTGHs in the citadel area REFERENCES Nguyen, H T., (2001) Nghien Cuu Va Bao Ton Hop Ly Nha Vuon Truyen Thong Hue (A Study on Hue Traditional Garden Houses for Possible Conservation), Hue College of Science, Hue University Phan, T A., (2004) Kien Truc Co Do Hue (Monuments of Hue), Hue: Thuan Hoa Publisher Shigeru Satoh, (2004) Information Notes of Hue, Faculty of Architecture, Hue College of Science, Hue University Tran, B T., (2005) Nghien Cuu Va Xay Dung Ban Do Phan Bo Nha Truyen Thong Hue (A Study on Condition and Distribution of Hue Traditional House), Faculty of Architecture, College of Science, Hue University Showa Women’s University, (2003) Hoi An Ancient Architecture, Vietnam, Vol.3, Hanoi: The Gioi publisher Shuji Funo, Bambang F Ferianto and Kyouta Yamada, (2004) Consideration on Space Formation and Transformation of Kampung Luar Batang (Jakarta), Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, Vol.3, no 1, pp 173-180 Shuji Funo, Naohiko Yamamoto and Johan Silas, (2003) Typology of Kampung Houses and Their Transformation Process – A Study on Urban Tissues of an Indonesian City, The Collection of Research Papers (Funo Laboratory), Kyoto University, Japan Nawit Ongsavangchai and Shuji Funo, (2004) Consideration on Formation and Typology of Shop House in Ratanakosin Area Bangkok, Thailand J Archit Plann., AIJ, No 577, pp 9-15 Nawit Ongsavangchai and Shuji Funo, (2005) Spatial Formation and Transformation of Shop House in the Old Chinese Quarter in Patani, Thailand J Archit Plann., AIJ, No 598, pp 1-9  ... ability of transformation directions of HTGHs in the citadel due to various needs of inhabitants The distribution of HTGHs in the citadel represents the transformation process of each area in the citadel. .. repetition of use of former palace site Figure 2: The influence of Feng Shui principle in Hue citadel At the beginning, the area within the citadel and outside the Imperial City was divided into 95... type In addition, Le Thanh Ton St is the place having the most concentrate of HTGHs CONCLUSION This paper is one part of the research namely ? ?Transformation of Hue Traditional Garden Houses in Hue