VIETNAMESE TRADITONAL

WOODEN ARCHITECTURE
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Toan
Doctor - Architect
Director
National Institute of Architectural
Research
Ministry of construction
Vietnam

Vietnamese Wooden Architecture

- Vietnamese traditional architecture was built inside the
tropical climate condition with high humidity and rainfall.
Most of the structure components were manufactured with
uncommon and valuable type of wood.
- They still were damaged because of the war, weather and
duration
- It were reconstructed and repaired by the following
emperors to maintain the original appearance.

Type of Vietnamese Wooden Architecture

The communal house
- The place of worship for the villages genie.
- The place of communal political and social activities
inside the Vietnamese villages.
- The place of organizing the cultural activities of the
holidays, festivals, New Year days.

Type of Vietnamese Wooden Architecture

The pagoda

- The Buddhism place of worship and propagates ,

festivals, New Year days.
- According to the living standard, the pagoda of the
village has the different scale.
- The architectural space of a pagoda is established
including 3 components: TienDuong (forecourt)
ThieuHuong (burn incense space) ThuongDien
(upper palace) .

Type of Vietnamese Wooden Architecture

Temple and shrine
- The Taoism place of worship that base on a
kind of oppressed peoples philosophy.
-The places that were decided to build the
temple and shrine are related directly to the
legends and the life of the supernatural genies
and the heroin.

The wooden structure of the building

-Inside the Vietnam wooden structure system, the
BoVi (the primary wooden truss) is considered as a
fundamental aspect.
- BoVi is the aspect that contributes to make the
specific characteristics of the Vietnamese wooden
architecture.

The wooden structure of the building

- Basing on the historical documentations and

heritage left, BoVi that involved the most
premature date is belonged to the TRAN
empire (the second half of the 14th Century ).
- Wooden BoVi were mainly created in the
Northern Area.
- In the 19th Century, there are also some
other types that were built wildly from Middle
Area (QuangBinh province) to Southern Area
in Vietnam. This type of BoVi was name as
Ruong House.

The wooden structure of the building

- No foundation under the columns; the footing of the
column is just supported by the pedestals. All the
massive load of the house has been transferred directly
to the pedestals that lay flatly on the floor.

The wooden structure of the building

-The system of the wooden

traditional structure include :
Cot (Column), Xa ( beam), Ke ,
Bay, Vi Noc, Vi Nach, Cau Dau,
BoVi ( primary wooden truss),
Hoanh ( Purlin), Thuong Luong,
Rui (rafter), Me (purlin cleat),
and many others supporting
pieces.

The wooden structure of the building

-Each component has their own function that
can contribute to the structure (sustain to the
tension strength, bending force, internal and
external force impact to the house). The
components have been joined together by the
mortise joint technique.

The wooden structure of the building

-The span among the components (Hoanh, Xa)
usually follows the rule as a traditional module. People
use the Tam Ruler when they build the traditional
wooden building.
-Other components were defined follow the exact
numbers multiple. This issue also makes the little
different characteristic among the building, they follow
their own scale, but they still obey an original rule.

The wooden structure of the building

There are usually about 4 to 6 BoVi inside a wooden
traditional building. Two BoVi create a house
compartment ( GianNha ), Each traditional house
consist of numbers of the compartment ( in odd
number : 3,5,7,9,11) it is the basic concept follow
Vietnamese traditional culture.

The wooden structure of the building

common types of the primary truss
a-GiaChieng ( Gong-stand ):
The first appearance is from 14th century. At
17th century, GiaChieng has some changes.
After 17th century, the BoVi have added with
many sculpture.

GiaChieng truss- ThuyPhieu communal house

HaTay province

GiaChieng truss- ThaiLac pagoda

HungYen province

GiaChieng truss- ThoHa communal house

BacGiang province

The wooden structure of the building

common types of the primary truss
b- ChongRuong: This type has been showed at
some heritages that have been built at the 18th
century. All the Con Ruong have been fixed above
one by one through the wooden cubic piece
(DauVuong). There are about 3 to 7 Con Ruong
inside the BoVi. In some wooden building in the
Middle Area, the ChongRuong has some changes to
become a new sub-division GiaThu.

Thoha communal housechongruong

Thoha communal housechongruong

Boxa-chongnhikinkhit

Boxa pagoda-chongnhicut

The wooden structure of the building

common types of the primary truss
VanMe:
- This type is consist of several wooden strips that lay
above the others one by one and they are fixed by using
two QuaGiang ( wooden joist ), there are also have the
sculptures with the tiger and dragon and other themes .
- In the middle area, the VanMe have been changed in to
VoCua ( crab - shell) that have the beautiful appearance
and structure

Chuvan communal housevivocua

UocLe communal house

bienthevivanme

Bachma communal house

-vivocua

Saidong communal house

-bienthevivanme

The wooden structure of the building

common types of the primary truss
BaHangChan (Three row of footing): This type that
compared with the common others has a column in the
middle (named: CotCai - the big column) and 2 other
side columns (named: CotQuan). The truss have been
join together by using 2 big beams that start from the
CotCai to the others to from a compartment.

Dinh Emperor temple

vi3hangchan
Tam quang 1 hang cotKimLien pagoda

LaPhu communal house

loai3hnagchan-cong

Butthap pagodavi3hangchan

The wooden structure of the building

common types of the primary truss
Nach: this is the component that
joint all the part at the triangle
shape space at the gap between
the CotCai (the big column) and
CotQuan (the side column).

Nach truss formed follow

the KeNgoi type.
thoha-kengoilendau

Nach truss formed follow

the VanMe type.

Nach truss formed follow

the ChongRuong type.
chongruongtucut

The wooden structure of the building

F- The structure that support the corridor roof.

F1. BayHien :
F2. KeHien.
F3. ConSon (bracket): the DauCung Type and
the Bay type

Boikhe pagoda-baycong

Bay Hien THo Ha communal house

Ke Hien Da Nguu communal house

thoHa-vandongbienthekeocongong

The wooden structure of the building

The Nguyen dynastys building
still have truss with the type
ChongRuong GiaChieng in the
Northern Vietnam.

In Hue, the emphasized issue

is the spread strongly of the
wooden palace, house, and
other building under the
Nguyen dynasty. However, the
architecture still has been
improved to adapt with local
condition.

ChongRuong GiaChieng Truss

The roof wooden structure

Nguyen emperor palace Hue City

The wooden structure of the building

The Ruong structure has been added the components
named GiaThu. At two ends of the Ruong, there are
some small pillars with the role as the arm supporting
the Hoanh (Purlin). In order to connect harmoniously
between to house follow the Trung Them Diep Oc
type, they have used the VoCua truss inside the
wooden structure.

Ruong House- Cross Section

The wooden structure of the building

The system of the sculpture art usually
appears closely with the structure system.
The themes of the sculpture on the main
structure usually shows the real common
life, cultural customs of the rural area
with the special way of description. The
connection between the sculpture art and
architecture contain the high quality
creation.