Vietnamese Feng Shui: Phong Thuỷ

The design of the villas at The Nam Hai, shown at top, is a modern reinterpretation of the traditional Vietnamese garden house, an example of which is shown above.

In the city of Hué, there are hundreds of traditional Vietnamese homes known as “nhà vườn,” which translates as “garden house.” These houses are characterized by pitched, flat-tiled roofs, timber frames and decorative wooden panels within the interiors. A detailed look at the elevation and floorplans of the standard one-bedroom villa at The Nam Hai shows how AW2, the architects of the resort, went to great lengths to incorporate the key characteristics of the Vietnamese garden house into the design of the property, giving the The Nam Hai a unique sense of place and time.

In traditional Vietnamese architecture, the responsibilities of an architect extend beyond the physical form, requiring one to master the interplay between a structure and its environs, including metaphysical elements. The wider world commonly refers to this practice as feng shui; the Vietnamese call it “phong thuỷ,” which translates as ‘wind water.’ The practice of phong thuỷ, which dates back to the 18th century, is the central brilliance of Vietnamese architecture and was documented as a guiding principle for the design of both the former imperial capital at Hué and the tombs of the Nguyen Emperors, both of which were major influences on the architects of The Nam Hai.

In a traditional Vietnamese garden house, the platform bed, or phản, is the most prominent furnishing in the entire house, often used as a communal place for a variety of activities. As said by a Vietnamese historian, “Guests are received, meals taken, work is done and of course people sleep on a phản.” In The Nam Hai Villas, there is a platform at the center of the room that reinterprets the multifunctional purposes of the traditional phản, offering not only a bed, desk and lounge area but also – and here’s the novel twist – a sunken tub.

In The Nam Hai villas, there are three interior levels, alluding to the multi-leveled shop houses of Hoi An, Vietnam’s ancient trading port. But where the villas at The Nam Hai have a greater elevation towards the bathroom at the rear, the higher elevation in a traditional shop house is in the front. In The Nam Hai, the three-tier elevation flows down and out to the seaside terrace.