The virtual Reconstruction and documentation of the urban landscape between the Thien Mu Pagoda and the Van Thanh Temple in Hue City, Vietnam, is finalized to the testing of contemporary buildings for tourist exploitation.

Ref.: 37
Key theme: 01 Physical integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 14/11/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

ISSINI, Giovanni * (Italy) - Universita Politecnica Delle Marche

ABSTRACT

Since approximately 10 years the Department of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Marche carries out research activities in Hue City, Vietnam in the field of knowledge and preservation of historical architectural sites and historic landscapes.
The researches carried out by Dardus, together with the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre and the Department of Architecture of the Hue College of Sciences, are finalized to document the architectural quality of the cultural heritage and of the urban historic landscape of Hue City, through innovative methods and instruments. Hue City is a unique model of a monumental city where the landscape, the architecture and the human activities are strictly connected in an harmonious system. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.
Since two years the researches carried out by the Italy-Vietnam joint staff are focused on the landscape between the Thien Mu Pagoda and the Van Thanh Temple (Literature Temple) in the west side of Hue City, along the Huong River. This space of land will be called "Thien Mu archaeological Area".
The Thien Mu archaeological area is very important for the Vietnamese identity keeping, due to the quality and quantity of architectural and landscape elements. They testify the historic tradition of the Vietnamese culture. Originally, four Temples were placed in the area. They were oriented along the main axis of the historic town and they were faced to the Huong River side.
The fusion of architecture, landscape, natural elements and social and religious traditions is the added value of the Thien Mu archaeological area, according to the Vietnamese feng-shui rules.
The Thien Mu archaeological area plays a key role in the urban development of Hue City, because it is located ________ of the dense city and it represent an integral historic landscape. Consequentially the Thien Mu archaeological area is one of the most visited site in Hue City and the local administrators aim to define an exploitation plan including new buildings for tourist services (museum, shops, restaurants, etc.)
In this context the Italy-Vietnam joint staff studied the original characters of the whole area. Moreover it created a database of documentations and knowledge that is the historic base to keep the visual and physical integrity of the historic landscape integrated to new contemporary architecture to be built in the future.
The main question is the following: "How can we integrate in the historical landscape of Thien new buildings and new urban signs (course for tourists, lighting system, etc)?" and " How can we understand in advance the impact of new architectures and urban signs in the landscape and their visual and physical sustainability?"
To answer the previous questions the joint staff moved on two main strategies:
- Virtual reconstruction of the historical landscape and public sharing of virtual environment and of documentations.
- Defining the masterplan of the Thien Mu archaeological area for the integrated coordination of tourist structures and new buildings.
- The web-based spreading of the available documentations on the Thien Mu archaeological area to furnish a cultural base for any new architectural and urban intervention.
The research results can be considered a useful contribute to the sustainable management of the Thien Mu archaeological area and to the safeguard of its original visual integrity.

REFERENCES

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DANG MINH NAM. Public Spaces in Hue City. Ph.D Thesis. 2008, Ancona

AA.VV. Masterplan of Sectors and National Programs in Vietnam to the year after 2000. Vietnamese Statistical Publishing House 1997

BENEVOLO L. History of oriental town. Laterza.1989

AA.VV. "Structural Studies, Repairs, and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture IX", Conference acts, Malta 2005