#3 VERNACULAR INSIGHTS - The Tube House. Change as an only constant in vernacular architecture

Conference from 13th August 2025 during the Festival de Arquitectura in Mérida

Probably many of you still wonder, what is exactly vernacular architecture? Why do we, Taller&Patrimoine, value it so much? As when it comes to architecture in general, there is no one and only answer for that questions. Nevertheless, among many of the definitions and personal reasons for admiring that architecture, we can for sure agree that what we find the most beautiful and valuable in it is its modesty of the building process - without engineers, architects, materials from far lands and not following any style, the way it adapts to the changing needs and environment, along with the reflection of the people's land, sometimes also reflection of their tradition and sense of aestethic. Vernacular architecture is silent, humble, yet very thought provoking to many of us, all because it always listens to the changing people's needs.

It was the topic we would like to talk about, based on the very inspirational lecture held by Professor Cristiana Mazzoni from ENSA Paris Belleville. Thank You for sharing with us your knowledge.

Reading the previous articles we could already learn that there is a lot to learn from vernacular architecture to then implement it in nowadays practice. We already know that for example local materials and original ways of consturcting turned out to be helpful with dealing with floods in Anambra. Observing and analysing the vernacular buildings and exchanging the indegenous knowledge can tell us a lot about material usage and climate adaptation techniques. We can discover what solutions succed in fighting with natural disaster and also which ones turned out to be failure. But what else? Well, for sure that learning from vernacular does not mean to copy, but to adapt.

This problematic - adaptibility of vernacular architecture, was touched by Professor Cristiana Mazzoni. In her speech, during the mentioned conference, she presented the Hanoi Tube House, that is an example of traditional architecture from Vietnam. Mazzoni was analysing it as a courtyard typology example, that keeps changing, adapting to the people's needs, that is always an answer for a particular context and being in harmony with the sourrounding environment, along with keeping the tradition at the same time.

The typical Tube House is long and narrow building, organised around the courtyard or courtyards (even 3). On the street side there is usually a shop - the public space. The more we go into the house, the more private it becomes. Usually has one or two floors.

In the house's plan we can see the openess. If somebody would like to, he can walk almost freely through the shop, courtyard, living space, till the kitchen that is in the back of the house. The courtyard brings light and the greenery into the all areas.

Unlike in "typical houses" known for example in Europe, the Tube Houses have vegetation that is both inside and outside at the same time, since the courtyard is not divided from the the house by any walls. Likeways, all spaces are open to each other.

Illustration 1 - The typical Tube House

But is it always like that?

At fitrst, Tube House was only one-leveled building with two-leveled part in the middle between the courtyards (times before year 1802). Then, along with a development and improvement of people's life, the house gained the first floor and become more dense, but always stayed with its core - the courtyards (pre-colonial times 1802-1873). In colonial period 1873-1954 the more years were passing, the more levels the house was gaining.

For a comparison, let's take the averege contemporary and the oldest Tube House in Hanoi.

The modern Tube House often keeps the vernacular elements - natural, original materials e.g. as a wooden structure, but has also some implementation with iron and glass. The idea of the plan with one central courtyard stays the same as in the original Tube House - is open for quests and daily life, as the most representative part of the house, but with the modernization in form of the kitchen open to the centre, which so far was treated as a "something to hide in the back". The new adition is also possibility of closing the courtyards with openable windows, e.g. during the wet seasons.

There are also the second and the third courtyards that are reserved for family. In this private area there are bedrooms and the wc.

The most contemporary Tube House (that was built after 1992) could reach even 10 levels and is reserved for many different families, turning a little towards block of flats.

In the oldest Tube House of Hanoi (a museum now), that we can still see in the city, there is the shop, that is traditionaly from the street (which in nowadays times is not always present since people have more diverse jobs). Right after, there is the courtyard, the main one, that is also a buffer zone before completly public space and space for inhabitants and guests. The whole house is closed in two levels - no more, with sleeping rooms on the first floor and daily areas on the ground floor. The courtyard here creates a strong dialog between what is public and private space of the house already in both directions - vertical and horizontal.

As we can see, there are a couple things that changed through the times:

• role of a kitchen and its position in the house

• the openess of the greeen courtyard, that can be regulated nowadays

• the amount of levels

• the archetype of an inhabitant is changing from a couple generation family towards typical parents-children small family

• the shop in the front is optional

• some structures remain in original materials, like wood but are often reinforced with modern elements, like iron

Even though the changes has been made and the inhabitants might be different, the main general ideas remain:

• letting the air go through the whole house as a natural ventilation (regulated, but present)

• usage of natural material (in different percantage, but is still present)

• letting the light and vegetation go through the courtyards, creating microclimate for the house (regulated, but present)

• keeping the original idea of aranging the space from the public one to the private one, that is following the people's lifestyle and tradition (with actualizing what is consider public and private)

"By revisiting the courtyard as both a symbolic space and a functional infrastructure, we can move beyond a nostalgia for tradition toward an inventive architectural practice that uses vernacular intelligence to amplify its potential in creating resilient, inclusive and adaptive urban environments." - Cristiana Mazzoni

The main lesson that can be learnt from the Tube House example is that vernacular does never mean constant, it changes and only by undersanding that, we can create new places that correspond to people's needs, keep the tradition and answer to the environment and the context requirenments. The context is always changing and that is why architecture should be always personalised for the particular place, time and people.

Vernacular means ecological, reflecting the tradition, humble, modest and silent, but also always adaptable and changable.

Illustration 2 - The evolution of the Tube House