The house plays an important role in life of Binh Dinh people. Binh Dinh people always think that “ when living, they must have houses, when dying, they must have tombs”, therefore, in their whole life, they show most concerns for having a house as a heritage to leave for the next generations.  

If western countries are famous for wooden houses, Binh Dinh is famous for grass roof house that hardly find any other places. Grass house is full of cultural characters of Binh Dinh people.

Grass house is not only precious heritage but it is also a part of spiritual life, good cultural feature of Binh Dinh people. Grass house not only reflects the unique features in accommodations, daily activities of Binh Dinh people in the old time but it is also living evidence in talent of carpenters in Binh Dinh. “old grass roof and ancient gardens” is suitable environment to protect traditional customs, virtues of family that Binh Dinh people often call “family tradition”.  

Grass roof house is an outstanding traditional cultural feature of Binh Dinh which is reflected through scheming space, architecture – a type of architectural houses which need protecting.  .

Grass roof house of Binh Dinh, the mark of ancient house of Vietnam

Grass roof house has full cultural features and is one of the unique architectural types in Binh Dinh, although materials are merely woods, bamboos, soils but the strength of the house is high, many house are over hundred years of age but it still keeps the original structures.  

Grass roof house is arranged according to the way of geomancy  located in high places, in the East-Southern orientation which is cool, and has scientific features. The house has two layers of roof, one by clay and one by straw grass which has the function of sound and heat insulation and fire protection, cool in summer and warm in winter. The house has the frame is made of wood which has four lines of columns, 4 horns, linked by xien, trinh, mortar, pestle. The structure link is completely by …mong which is strong and cope with sunlight and wind of the Central but it is simple, suitable for the characteristics of Binh Dinh people. Meanwhile, houses of Viet in the North, Nha ruong of Hue has more sophisticated structures.

Normally, grass roof house is built based on Mon term or cong term and has two roofs: grass roof  and soil roof. The scale of architecture spends on each family status, the main house often has 3 rooms and two chai(rich family 5 rooms and 2 chai), in the middle worshipping room, the left is western and eastern room. The main house is connected to the eastern room, and the kitchen by a way having roof called bridge room and forming a small garden to create wide space for the whole house. In the right of the main house and connected to it is a way having grass roof called western room. The poverty and prosperity of owners of grass roof houses reflect clearly in belonging houses. Besides, grass roof house has some works additional works such as: thu ky ( the temple worshipping the god of the soil)  

The unique features of grass roof house is that it has two layers of roof. The first roof layer(similar to the part of rooms in building house) but it is covered on the points of columns and horns  and tightly connected with the top of fingers by rattan fibers  . this part of roof has some parts paved with planks or  smashed peels  old bamboos(which are available everywhere and put into water in over 1 year to avoid woodeaters, then carved, sculptured before covering with clay set mixed with straw. the second layer roof is high with big slope, in parallel with the first layer roof in order that in rainy season, it sweeps water quickly and keep the strength of the roof. As such, grass roof house has two layers. The inside layer support the part of clay; the outside layer support rafter, batten to roof by grass or tile   
The type of structure of gates of grass roof house also reflect the characteristics of owners is introvert, close the door to teach each other, and avoid the fact that everyone knows the things take place in the family. The gate of the house in Binh Dinh is low, the stair is high, especially the gate up to the main house where having altar. According to old people, it is necessary to arrange the gate as such in order to remind people to knob the head when entering the worshipping room, every movement should be unhurried and respectful.

Beside lively sculpture, the qualification of workers for grass roof house will be reflected in the part of sculpturing.  

Grass roof house in Binh Dinh often has from 12 to 16 big columns down to the ground in 4 rows, each row has 4 trees including: main column ( biggest and highest) then to small columns, second column, then third smaller and lower columns. The tree area, the column in the middle is 3,5 or 4 meter high, then the outside columns decrease from 2 to 3m. The connection between the top of columns and xien trinh are all sculptured in the shape of kylin, tortoise, or squirrel   carefully. Xien  is the column located from the top column to other along the house. Trinh is the column located from the top of this column crossing the house. In Binh Dinh, xien column is often smoothed in the shape of hexagon or sculptured in beautiful patterns, trinh column is sculptured by     a big bar ….wood, bending shape, and is sculptured in patterns along the tree; when the top of the column is sculptured, dauf keof is also sculptured symmetrically. Trinh, xien column use square wood bars, the sides of which have been unraveled which look beautifully. Beside columns, there are loosen supports. In grass roof house, loosen support and xien, trinh are important decoration points. Visitors often see on the ceiling and observe loosen supports as well as trinh, xien… so loosen supports are not only wooden columns but are decorated in many ways. The special thing is that in roof grass house is in the connection place so people do not use nails as currently but drilling holes.

Grass roof house often sees in the Southern orientation. And every house has garden surrounding and in the yard often has fences in four sides. The alley opens in front of the house. Some houses has alleys behind. And the alley in front of the house or behind the house is often opened beside the house, not in the middle. The front alley, for the orientation, should be sculptured in the middle, the way to the house should lead to the one side.  

The way of arranging the gates, yards, gardens create the harmony between the nature and architecture. Living in grass roof house, although it is hermetic  but it is not wet, people are easy to harmonize with the nature and full of human characters and high cultural natures.      
Grass roof house – architectural cultural heritage should be protected.

Grass roof house is a type of outstanding traditional architecture in Binh Dinh. However, recognizing the status of the heritage of roof grass house and orientation in the protection which are now urgent problems. Hundreds of grass roof houses still exist in Binh Dinh as precious heritage of traditional architecture.

From 2001 to 2003, the association of architects of Binh Dinh are responsible for the topic of studying traditional architecture of Binh Dinh to contribute to keeping the cultural characters of the nations in the modern architecture. This is the studying work having many meanings towards the modern architecture full of Vietnam characters. The first inspection in traditional house in Binh Dinh cooperated by the Department of Cultural heritage(Ministry of Culture – Information) and Nu Chieu Hoa university (Japan) carried out in 2004 made the statistics of 350 houses. In which, 35 houses were chosen and made detailed documents in the second term. The number shows that the number of grass roof houses in Binh Dinh is not small.  

 Despite being made of wood, grass roof house is a type of architecture which is strong, many houses are burned in roof part, or because of the condition of removing, people unbind tenon by wood, cut rattan bind to bind and then unbind each column, xien, trinh to build up other houses.    

The scale of old roof grass house is that, but nowadays, the whole province has only several ancient houses which are damaged, hundreds of other grass roof houses are replaced by tile roof or metal roofing. A small number of houses still keep gate houses, the area of kitchen, small yard. Some of houses is covered with clay of the main house. For many subject reasons, owners should reduce the additional architecture of grass roof house to protect; it means that they should remove damaged houses to concentrate on investing to keep the main house. Most of grass roof houses currently have only 3 compartments, 2 lean-tos. Some houses have 3 compartments but in short of one lean-to or both. Some houses still keep the same frame of wood but replacing the ceiling by smooth roof, or altar which is often called the tradition of wood of our ancestors. From 2002, after the Government promulgated the law of cultural heritage, the responsibility of people in the participation in protecting and developing the values of cultural heritages has been enhanced, the grass roof houses are kept and protected better. But up to now, grass roof house in Binh Dinh is still a type of cultural heritage which hardly any people show concerns for and being at the risk of being destroyed due to the urbanization and the time. Perhaps it is time to have policies in protecting grass roof house, one outstanding traditional  cultural features of Binh Dinh which are reflected through the scheming space of architecture.

Cinet