Energy conservation issues and environmental problems in recent years have increased interest in traditional architecture which is well known for its energy saving designs. This paper thoroughly investigates vernacular housing designs and evaluates on the aspect of building physics. A new research methodology which is adapted to the natural and social context of Vietnam was proposed and applied. The process was carried out step by step, including: climate zoning, systematic analysis, in-situ survey and building simulations. The results of this study indicate that vernacular housing in Vietnam is creatively adapted to the local natural conditions and uses various climate responsive strategies. Through this study, the most frequently used strategies and their effectiveness were derived. The authors also found that under extreme weather conditions, traditional designs might not be sufficient to maintain indoor thermal comfort.
The paper shows the concept of phenomenology originated from Edmund Husserl’s contemplation of “I think, therefore I am.” As the scientific method of consciousness, phenomenology relates to architecture via the phenomenological-self. The method concentrated on investigation and description, without prejudices. Living in the world, the phenomenological-self can be a being man, a perpetual man, a wandering man, or a sensory man. Places appear because these egos have projected them to in-between the Earth and Heaven. The selves rendered their dwelling by reflection, imagination, apperception, or sensation of the built environment. The site historicity impacted on making architecture as humans’ embodiment. The influence can be either site conformation or humans force as traditional culture. Both are the primary objects of the phenomenology method that is taken shape in four steps, from Husserl’s five phases for pure knowledge. Applying those paces in making a place, designer and students keep off their prejudices to produce a pure phenomenological architecture meaningful and articulatory to its surrounding.
This research intends to the understanding of organicism as the historic source of architectural forms. Organic architecture acts as a junction between humans and nature, where humans are seen as parts of nature. Through organicism as an apparatus, designers are able to respond to nature in such manner that humans are more intimately bound into the entirety of nature to form an organic whole. A new term “enviro-organic” is proposed in this research. Enviro-organic form extends prior definitions of organic architecture, which are of greater relevance today. Such form is defined as one that opens to the natural world, facilitating the making of architecture that sustains human life and nature today and in the future.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.