THE VIETNAM ARCHITECTURE HISTORY
The villages and hamlets before the 10th century, appeared in this period according to several tales of Linh Nam. The ancient Vietnamese used wood to build houses to protect themselves from tigers and wolves. Two kinds of houses were depicted on the bronze drums; one in the shape of a boat and the other in a shape similar to a turtle shell. Due to dense lakes, swamps, rivers, and highly humid tropical climate, the most appropriate building material is bamboo and wood to set up houses on low stilts. At the end of the 19th century, houses on stilts remained in mountainous areas, midlands, and plains throughout the country.
In order to be suitable with the rugged terrain, Co Loa Citadel was made out of clay during Thuc Phan Dynasty in the 3rd century BC. The architecture during the Chinese sovereignty, from the 2nd century BC to the 9th century, consisted of various structures like ramparts, royal tombs, citadels, folk-houses, and pagodas.

THE NGUYEN DYNASTY
The development of Bac Ha region at the beginning of the 19th century was slowed down, after the capital was moved to Hue by the Nguyen Dynasty. At the same time, development in Thang Long increased and citadels, cultural structures, temples, and new residential areas were built.
The center of the significant development was in Hue where imposing citadels, palaces, and tombs were built. The Vietnamese culture in Hue was influenced by the gardened-type houses which is quite different from the tubular type of houses in Hanoi.
The architecture of Hue was considered as a collection of traditional influences which relied on flat surfaces, citadel and urban centers, interior decoration, and scenery structures.

THE LY DYNASTY
The Ly Dynasty initiated a new phase in architectural development during the 11th century while a united-feudal state was developing. Generally, the architecture of Ly Dynasty, 11th and 12th centuries, had five orthodox styles: citadels, palaces, castles, pagodas, and houses.
The Thang Long Citadel had a complex of palaces, many of which were 3-4 floor temples. At that time, the Thang Long culture deeply reflected the cultural characteristic of the tower-pagoda. The architectural characteristics of the Ly Dynasty were residential complexes, more ornamental roofs, doors, door-steps, banisters, and rounded statues, all in a suitable design for the climate and traditional customs of Vietnam. Streets, markets, ground and stilt houses in popular architectural design developed simultaneously as royal palaces.

THE LE DYNASTY
The orthodox architecture under Le Dynasty in the 15th century, had two dominant styles: the imperial palace and the royal tomb. From the 16th to 17th century, religious architecture gained a lot of popularity in architectural development.
The But Thap Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province is famous for its structure and for the techniques used to build the tower and carve and paint the statues. When feudalism lost popularity, folk-art continued to be reflected in carvings and paintings describing active scenes of rowing, hunting, sloughing, wrestling, and cutting.

THE TRAN DYNASTY
The dominant architecture models under the Tran Dynasty, were the royal palace, pagoda, house, temple, and citadel. These styles were deeply and significantly illustrated in the Binh Son Tower in Vinh Phu Province, the Pho Minh Pagoda in Nam Dinh Province, and the Thai Lac Pagoda in Hung Yen Province.
The complexity and structure of Pho Minh Pagoda is an outstanding example of the architectural style of the Tran Dynasty period and of the following centuries. The structure was designed in 3 main sections: the lobby, main hall, and sanctuary. The inside yard, or interior garden, played an important role in the traditional architectural style and reflected the concept of oriental space. The contemporary architecture of royal palaces was designed with upper floors and systems of consecutive corridors in an open-air space, which was very convenient for living in a warm climate. In spite of the crowded development, the majority of construction materials were still bamboo and wood.

THE MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The architectural characteristics were influenced by new construction style brought by European urban planning and the interaction between French and Oriental cultures. The architecture of Vietnam has been impressively developing since the reunification in 1975. The many new urban and residential areas, industrial zones, and new villages with major architectural works have brought high artistic value to regional development. Nowadays, architectural development consists of 5 main domains: interior design, architectural design, environmental design, urban planning, and regional planning. Also, issues on spontaneous development of urban area, protection of architectural relics, and house-building strategies are problems that need urgent solutions.
The original architecture of Vietnam included structures made of elaborately carved wood and tiled roofs. The floor consisted of packed earth or tile and the entire structure rested on four pillars. All the buildings, excluding the village’s community house, maintained the same architectural style with hardly any difference between a temple and a residential house. Only the size of the building differed depending on the purpose. With the advent of the French, Vietnamese architecture drew influences from them and this is distinctly visible in the later structures.

Architecture of Vietnam: Citadels
The architecture of Vietnam exhibits some of the finest specimens of citadels. The Co Loa or Loa Thanh was built in 257BC by King An Duong in Phuc Yen, one of the Vietnam provinces. It is famous for its impeccable defense mechanism. The royal palace sat at the centre of the structure comprising a maze of three entwined mud-enclosures. In ancient Vietnam, architecture consisted of brilliantly constructed fortified residences consisting of mud-wall enclosed yard, watchtowers and entrances covered with holes to attack the enemies. Dinh Tien Hoang had built a fortress in Hoa Lu with brick walls and watchtowers. The royal palace was situated in the middle of the structure. The Tay Do is another famous Vietnamese citadel built in 1790 by Ho Qui Ly. The citadel was among the best naturally guarded ones with hills in front and a river in the west.
With the coming of the French, architecture of Vietnam had had a makeover of sorts. It witnessed the construction of the first French style citadel by Gia Long in 1790. Hue Citadel is another famous construction by him. Following this many other structures of the same pattern were constructed throughout the land.

Architecture of Vietnam: Religious Temples
Khai Quoc was the first Buddhist temple built in the 6th century by King Ly Bi. From 7th century onwards there was a certain shift of paradigm in architecture. Vietnam witnessed the construction of a large number of Buddhist temples. Some of the famous temples were the Phat Tich, the Dam and the Dien Huu. The Dien Huu is renowned for its architecture. It is built in the shape of a blossomed lotus. The temples of this period had multi storied towers and the interiors decorated with beautiful statues. The designs and decoration had Vietnamese motifs of dragons, elephants, chrysanthemum, and lotus. Some of the sculptures manifest a strong influence of the Cham art.
The temples from the time of the Mac era contained a huge collection of wooden statues. They included statues of Buddha, saints and royalties cured from jackfruit wood. Architecture of Vietnam in the early nineteenth century witnessed the restoration and expansion of many existing temples in cities like Ha Noi, Hue and Saigon.
The architecture of Vietnam is also a reflection of how the culture of Vietnam evolved through the ages. Influence from the west resulted in the replacement of the traditional materials for the construction of temples. Now iron, steel and concrete was being used for the construction. New temples showed clear influence of architecture from Japan, China, India and Europe.