ARCHITECTURAL MORPHOLOGY OF TRADITIONAL

COMMUNITY HOUSES OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN QUANG NAM

AND THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCES

PhD. Arch. Vo Ngoc Duc*, PhD. Nguyen Hong Dung*, Arch. Phan Vu Phuong

*University of Sciences, Hue University, VIETNAM

Email: voduchue@yahoo.com

Abstract Traditional community houses of ethnic minorities (Co Tu, Ta Oi, Pa Co, Bru-Van Kieu, etc.) in

Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces with cultural and architectural features that are similar in

shape, materials and constructive methods. However, depending on the geographical regions, climate,

customs, so that houses of each ethnic group are different in scale, plan, height, decorative motif

which are shown through community houses and private houses (Guol, Roong, Long house, Doang,

Moong, etc.). The traditional community house has brought cultural values, spiritual values, use

values, architecture values. The method of using local materials, traditional constructive techniques,

together with community activities is an effective model for building and preserving culture, land,

organizational structure and administrative management of ethnic minority community.

In the context of urbanization, the restructuring of the social model through the change of

settlement structure, traditional community houses has more or less changed the mode of activities,

using modern materials, constructive techniques following the Kinh people etc. This is shown by the

data of surveys in Nam Dong, Dong Giang districts that most of the Guols wooden architecture have

changed of materials, associated techniques, community activities following the privatization trend

that lead to risk of the Guol house's disappearance. Researching community houses plays an

important role to find out the values and factors affecting traditional house transformation, an

appropriate proposals to protect community houses, preserve cultural identities, a proper approach to

the sustainable development in the modern context.

Keywords: community house, Guol, ethnic minority, architectural shape, identity.

1. Introduction

Community houses are a symbolic image for the ethnic minority community in Central

Vietnam and the Highlands. Traditional community houses of ethnic minorities in Quang

Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces with cultural and architectural features that are similar in

shape, structure, construction materials and erection methods. They are distributed in high

land along the Central Highlands, Truong Son Mountain's system, depending on geographical

regions, climate, customs, typical cultural features, so that houses of each ethnic group have

scale, plan shape, height, decorative motifs which are more or less shown by the image of

community house as well as residence house.

In recent decades, along with the context of urbanization, the restructuring of the social

model through the change of settlement structure, so that traditional community houses have

more or less changed the mode of use, construction materials, modern construction

techniques, etc. Through surveys and drawings in Nam Dong district, A Luoi district (Thua

Thien Hue province), Dong Giang district (Quang Nam province) from 2010 to the present,

the most of the Guol's wooden architecture has changed in terms of materials, connected

techniques, and community activities in the direction of privatization, leading to the risk of

losing the Guol house. In addition, the awareness of young people, exchanges and easy

approach to the city culture leads to increased private property in human life. The local people

consciousness of preserving and protecting the villages has been more or less changed.

Cultural values, spiritual values, architectural values, along with local materials,

traditional construction techniques, community activities of ethnic minorities are an effective

model for preserving and protecting the Guol house that we need to pay attention and

research. These scientific data will help to build and preserve the culture, land, organizational

structure and administrative management of ethnic minority communities. Social organization

model of ethnic minority people such as village organization, village council are the

operational tool of the self-governing model which governs the entire life of people both

physically and mentally. Researching community houses plays an important role to find out

the values and factors affecting traditional house transformation, find appropriate proposals to

protect community houses, preserve cultural identity, and find out an appropriate approach to

the sustainable development process in the modern context.

2. Materials and research methods

2.1. Interview method

In order to collect research data, we have carried out many surveys and interviews since

2010 so far in Nam Dong, A Luoi districts (Thua Thien Hue province) and Dong Giang

district (Quang Nam province). Respondents were commune secretaries, village heads, village

elders and artisans directly involved in the management and construction of the Guol house.

These data describe the time, method and techniques of logging trees and leaves; methods of

organizing the construction and erection of houses; at the same time they also show kind of

the community activities, festive activities of the local people.

The interviewed data on daily living methods and living activities of Co Tu people

show the model of community activities, village settlement structure, and many residence

houses concentrated around the central Guol house that help the preservation, protection of

houses, cultural protection, customary villages.

2.2. Measuring drawing method

The measuring drawing method is used to measure the details of the three Goul houses

in A Ka village, Thuong Quang commune, Thuong Lo commune in Nam Dong district and

B'Rao town, Dong Giang district. Besides, some Guol houses and long houses are also

measured in A Luoi district (Thua Thien Hue province). Houses' measurements help us to

establish floor plans, elevation plans with dimensions and measurements of the house.

Thereby also see details of the structure, how to connect columns, frames, and roofs of the

structural system.

Besides measuring data, the Guol's photos shows the current status of community

houses.

2.3. Comparative method

After analyzing the data, modeling 2D and 3D drawings on the computer, the

comparative method is used to analyze the sizes, distances of components, structural

components of the Guol house. Combined with interview data, current measurement data, the

comparative method shows that there are differences in the scale of traditional Guol houses

and current Guol houses, showing the process of transformation of materials, erection

technique, and connection technique.

The digitizing process shows that there are differences in dimensions, the scale between

the data obtained from the interview with the actual measurement data. This shows that there

have been changes and transformations in the Guol House through the approach from the

ancient village living model to the management process according to the administrative levels

under the modern model.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Characteristics of ethnic minority: Ta Oi, Co Tu, Pa Co, Bru-Van Kieu

a. Co Tu People

Co Tu People is an ethnic minority people living in Quang Nam province, and Thua

Thien Hue province, there are currently about 76 thousand people1 (2014). Co Tu people

cultivate multi-cultivation and intercropping fields, after several crops, they fallow for a while

and then continue cultivating. Livestock mainly are buffaloes, pigs, dogs and chickens.

Handicraft with weaving, pottery making. Co Tu often eat plain rice, has a custom of eating

by hand, wine drinking, smoking by pipe leaves. Men wear loincloths, women wear tube

skirts, they stay on the stilt houses with the roof is bent at the two gables like the turtle shells.

The Guol house is a place for meetings, community activities, and cultural exchanges.

In the life of individual, the family and the village, there are a lot of worship ceremonies

associated with production, health, etc. Co Tu people have two main festivals such as buffalo-

stabbing ceremony and "grave-gathering" ceremony. The traditional community house also

known as Guol, is a traditional culture that preserves many unique values.

b. Ta Oi People

Ta Oi ethnic community in Vietnam has 3 groups: Ta Oi, Pa Co, Ba Hi. The Ta Oi's

population is about 43,886 people, distributed in 39 of 63 provinces and cities (Population and

Housing Census in 2009). Ta Oi people reside in the western mountainous area of the central

region, mainly in the provinces of Thua Thien Hue, Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Thanh Hoa.

Ta Oi people have their own unique character, shown through the art of chiseling,

engraving, architecture of the residence and dressing. Gongs, instruments, flutes, trumpets,

drums, and pan-pipe are common musical instruments in the area of Ta Oi people. The Ta Oi

lives according to traditional customs, believes in the village elders and adores children. Each

village consists of people of different lineages, each of which has a leader. The Ta Oi lives on

the fields, grow rice with multi-cultivation, nomadic cultivation and raise big cattle, especially

buffaloes to make sacrifices, and also trade. In addition, hunting, fishing, and gathering bring

them significant food. Bamboo and rattan weaving's things response the need of self-

sufficiency. Ta Oi people live together for generations in a common house called a long

house.

c. Pa Co People

The Pa Co ethnic group currently has about 18,000 people, settling mainly in A Luoi

district (Thua Thien Hue) and Huong Hoa district (Quang Tri). They live alternately with the

Co Tu, Ta Oi, Bru-Van Kieu and have many similarities with the Mon-Khmer ethnic groups

in costumes, houses, ways of living, cultivation.

In terms of social organization, Pa Co people live alternately, without dividing the

boundary between one village and another. Regarding the lineages, if Pa Co people name

them Tâng Koal (the dog), then Ta Oi takes the names of A Kê and Pê Kê (the bird). The Ta

Oi men are good at cooking, and for the Pa Co people, the cooking is only for women. Pa Co

people have a living custom in long house, slope roof with separate partitions for each family

in the big family, while the Ta Oi houses have a vertical slope and do not divide the partition.

d. Bru-Van Kieu People

The ancient Bru-Van Kieu people concentrated in central of Laos, after historical

fluctuations, they had to migrate to places, to Thailand and to the central of Vietnam: Quang

Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue provinces. The population is about 227,716 people,

residing in 39 of 63 provinces. The Bru-Van Kieu's residence is mainly located in Truong Son

1 http://www.quangnam.gov.vn/CMSPages/BaiViet/Default.aspx?IDBaiViet=15704

- Highlands in the western provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Dak Lak, Thua Thien Hue

and Thanh Hoa.

The people of Bru-Van Kieu mainly cultivate rice fields and grow rice. Food resources

of Bru-Van Kieu people are plentiful because of their residence has forests, rivers and

streams. In addition, they also focus on raising cattle and poultry such as buffaloes, cows,

pigs, chickens, dogs, etc. The handicrafts of the Bru-Van Kieu people are not developed,

mainly weaving baskets for serving transportation and trade activities. Bru-Van Kieu people

have exchanged goods with Vietnamese and Lao people.

3.2. The scale, plan shape, height of the house

a. The Roong house

Figures 1 and 2 show the plan and appearance of the Roong of Ta Oi people in A Luoi

district. The specific character is the wide and long roof, rounded gables. The roof is woven

and roofed with two layers of rattan leaves and thatch. The two roof's tops often put buffalo

horns or rooster heads.

The basic frame - column of the Roong house has each of the top of column which is

cleaved vertically to place a long wooden beam linked the columns following longitudinal

line or arc. Around the pillar, just below the mortise, is usually tied with the loops of wire

which made from small split rattan fiber to help prevent cracking wood. On the horizontal

side of the house, there are two beams, linked together by two columns, these beams are 25

cm wide and 8 cm thick. The surrounding columns system and the form of longitudinal beams

follow in the rows of columns defined the shape of house.

Roong's wattle walls are enclosed around the four sides of the floor, upright erect, not

high. The wattle wall is made of wood about 10 cm thick, carves neatly, has a combination of

sculpture and decorative patterns on the surface. The common height of the Roong floor is

from 1 to 1.5 m. The floor is supported by columns system and auxiliary columns. Roong

house has no center pillar like the Guol house of Co Tu people.

Figure 1. Overview of Roong house of the Ta

Oi, Aka village - ANgo - A Luoi (source: Phan

Vu Phuong)

Figure 2. The plan of Roong house of the Ta

Oi, Aka village - ANgo - A Lưới (source: Phan Vu

Phuong)

b. The Long house

Figures 3 and 4 show the shape of the long house of Ta Oi people with a rectangular

shape, two rounded gables. The house consists of many households connected together along

the length of the house, which can extend up to hundreds of meters. All four sides of the

house have a staircase leading to the house, including one main entrance and three auxiliary

paths. The guest room is placed in the center of the long house, called Moong. In the middle

of the long house is the corridor along the house that leads to each household. The house

consists of many households living together, each of them has a separate kitchen, in the guest

room also placed a fire stove. In the middle of a long house usually makes a stairs to go up to

the living room. Each household's kitchen will be made in the middle of the house, above

which there is a suspension frame, the family's sleeping space is the floor.

The floor is about 1.50 m high, supported by a wooden column system, under the floor,

people put small barns to raise poultry. The granary is not built near the long house but is

located on the edge of the forest to avoid fires that will make barns be burnt, which leads loss

of food sources. The paddy to be eaten daily was placed in an attic of the long house. The

precious furniture is stored in the Krúh - a cylindrical woven basket with a lid - placed near

the wall of the house or hung on the roof. The roof is woven with leaves, covering the entire

floor.

Figure 3. The traditional long house of the

Ta Oi people (source: internet) Figure 4. The plan of the long house of Ta Oi

people (source: Phan Vu Phuong)

c. The residence house (Doang)

In the past, the house of the Ta Oi people was a long house, a house for big families.

Today, the Ta Oi house is a short stilt house for small families. Figures 5 and 6 show that the

image of Doang which usually has 5.40 m long, 4.20 m wide. The house has a round roof, the

floor is not high (about 0.8m - 1m), there are two stairs at two wooden gables, the main stair

is in the right and close to the living and living space, the auxiliary stair is in the left is close

to the fire.

In the west, there is a square fire kitchen of about 1m2 in area for cooking, on which

there is a shelf for food. Opposite the fire stove is the sleeping place of the owner. The house

has 3 windows that about 93 cm high, 66 cm wide around the house. The house has 6 main

columns, the beams are connected to the main column according to the principle of mortise,

when erecting house, Ta Oi people also build these main columns first, then the vertical

beams link to form the frame. Next is erection of the column, truss, the purlin.

The roof is roofed with thatch, the walls are woven with bamboo interlocking. The roof

has a steep slope, mostly covered with thatch, the roof is made of bamboo. At the two corners

of the roof are two wooden statues of cuckoo heads.

Figure 5. Ta Oi house (source:

https://baomoi.com/s/c/13214781.epi)

Figure 6. Below the floor of the Ta Oi

people hold agricultural tools and rice mortar

(source: Phan Vu Phuong)

d. The Guol house of Co Tu People

Figures 7, 8 and 9 show the shape and the height scale between the roof, body, and base

of the house. Supporting system in the structure of Guol house focuses on a main pillar in the

center of the house that is buried deep into the ground, extending up to the top of the roof,

connecting the entire girder system, beam and ridge-beam. The frame consists of columns that

are added in the form of a vertical wall, to which a wooden beam is used to link the columns

into a vertical line or an arc. Based on the structure of traditional truss such as column system

(one main column, six auxiliary columns), beams, truss linked together by simple frame

erection techniques like using mortise, natural inarching and lanyard. Around the column, just

below the mortise, people can belt by a knitted wire that made from small split rattan for

avoiding cracking of the wood. In the columns on two sides, the beam has a cross section of a

vertical rectangle, about 5 - 7 cm thick, about 35 - 40 cm wide. At the two gables, the beam is

only about 2 - 3 cm thick, 18 - 20 cm wide to easily bend along the pillars supporting it.

Horizontally there are two beams, which link each pair of side columns together. The beams

are also 25 cm wide and 8 cm thick. The distribution of the surrounding column system and

the form of longitudinal beams running along the rows of columns has defined the shape of

the house.

The center column always supports the center of the ridge-beam. This column has a

bearing effect and connects other architectural components to create the system of the frame

supporting the floor, walls and roof from the central, the girder system, beams, walls and roof

connected to the auxiliary columns. From the auxiliary columns, the roof's supporting beams

are propped up erectly on the roof.

The outstanding feature is the high roof system, rounded on two gables. The roof is

elaborately woven and roofed with two layers of rattan leaves, thatch and leaves. Rattan

leaves are prickly clean, then every four leaves collapses into one, leaves flipped to one side,

while the petiole are carefully tied together by rafter that it presses on. The roof has slope for

drainage that very suitable for the natural landscape of the mountains. Each main roof of Guol

house has 3 - 5 trusses, the top of the trusses when put on with a roof stick is always

redundant, pairing with the other side of the truss into an X-shape and this intersection is tied

with string cloud. The number of trusses on the two roofs is evenly and parallelly distributed,

while the trusses at the two gables are distributed from the tip of the roof to the columns

according to the spire shaped, one in the center and the other symmetrical on both sides.

Guol house walls surround four sides of the floor, erect vertical, not high. Walls are

made from bamboo. Before weaving the walls, the bamboo is split into small and thin bars,

the length of which depends on the size of the door or the wall. The bamboo bars are made

carefully and elaborately. For the type of walls made of wood, about 10 cm thick, requires

delicate carving, the surface has a combination of sculpture and decorative patterns.

The floor of Guol houses are high common from 1m to 1.5 m. The structure of the floor

is primarily based on the column system of the house, and there are additional support pillar

to increase the bearing capacity of the floor beams. Besides, there is a pillar standing at the

edge of the two gables of the floor.

Figure 7. Guol house,

Thuong Quang commune, Nam

Dong district, Thua Thien Hue

province

Figure 8. Guol house, Thuong

Lo commune, Nam Dong

district, Thua Thien Hue

province

Figure 9. The Guol house in

B'Rao town, Dong Giang

district, Quang Nam province

Figure 10 shows the plan and cross section of the three Guol houses surveyed in Nam

Dong and Dong Giang districts. The shape, structure, materials are quite similar. However,

the scale of the height of Guol house in Nam Dong district is lower, the roof has a small slope

compared to the Guol house in Dong Giang district.

The measuring data from the current situation of Guol houses is more or less different

from the interview data from the village elders, the village heads in the size, the measurement

of the components, the distance of the components in the Guol house's structure. This proves

that during the process of building over many generations, the scale and size of the Guol

house has been more or less changed through the construction process.

Figure 10. Plans and sections of Guols house in Thuong Quang, Thuong Lo and Dong Giang

communes (source: Thuong Quang house, Thuong Lo house drawing by Vo Ngoc Duc, B'Rao house

drawing by Nguyen Ngoc Tung)

3.3. The changes in community activities, materials and connected techniques in the

context of urbanization

a. Change of community activities, settlement structure

In the current period, the development of socio-economic life, the changes in the

village, the economic life of the local people is enhanced, the spiritual life is improved.

Besides positive changes, negative changes also come at the same time. The reception and

transformation of culture makes the traditional culture seem to sink into oblivion and even in

the traditional house itself, the spiritual life of ethnic minorities are no longer valid as before.

Along with the policy of bringing the mountain to develop together with the city, the

appearance of the mountainous districts has changed a lot, especially Nam Dong district,

which has quick approached to the conditions of the city. The system of electricity, roads,

schools and stations have been upgraded almost of the village, cultural centers are built in

many places. Therefore, the function of the Guol house is no longer the same as before.

Formerly, Guol was the headquarters of the village council, where the meeting, discussing the

village tasks, now there is the Commune People's Committee. The Guol house is no longer

the only cultural center of the village, instead that there are more cultural centers built to

replace the traditional Guol as hall function. Previously, Guol was a place to preserve the

achievements of the people after hunting, but now it has become a small library, where

display of books and cultural products.

The structure of traditional villages has changed, sedentarization's work has completely

changed the old residence form, living conditions and lifestyle are more or less different than

before. The prominence of new trends, new concepts that make many people, especially

young people lack proper appreciation of traditional culture etc. These are the basic reasons

that the Guol house gradually disappeared in the village. Up to now, only a few villages still

maintain Guol house. When the models of own family, private business became popular, the

sharing of products obtained at the Guol house has been gone.

b. Change of materials, construction techniques

The changes in style, materials of modern Guol's roof with the existence of architectural

components that is unclear in terms of function and symbolic meaning. These are social

changes to adapt to new living conditions, to adapt to climatic conditions, but the reverse of

these changes the traditional culture of ethnic minorities. The closed village model of oval,

circle etc. with solid fences is now gone, replaced by separate houses arranged depend on

traffic convenience. And the central position of the Guol house is not intact. Nowadays, Guol

is built at a high and convenient place for transportation in the village.

Currently, the traditional community house of the Co Tu has many changes, both in

terms of construction materials and style. Construction materials are no longer precious

timbers cut from deep forests, with the system of wooden pillars and leaf roofs instead that are

modern bearing materials learned from Kinh people such as sand, grit, cement, reinforced

concrete, corrugated iron, and tile (figures 11, 12). In fact, the Guol houses in the villages and

communes are not the same, somewhere, there is a place where Guol house is made of rattan

and bamboo, the walls are closed with many systems of doors, windows, thatched roofs, while

some Guol houses are made in modern style with concrete floor with tiles, corrugated iron

roof system with wooden doors etc. Besides, the Guol house trend is built towards the road to

facilitate meetings, travel, and high floors compared to traditional Guol house.

Figure 11. A Guol house in Dong Giang district Figure 12. Using modern materials in building

Guol house (source: Phan Vu Phuong)

This is explained by many subjective and objective reasons. Due to investment projects

with design, despite the consultation with the villagers, it still seems not suitable for

traditional houses. On one side, people want to build as the original but the capital of the

projects is limited, in addition, some materials like wood, leaves for roofs are becoming

increasingly rare, finding is difficult and time consuming. Additionally, the government's

policy bans on forest which did not allow illegal logging. Another important thing is that the

life expectancy of traditional houses is not long, so the preference for choosing houses made

with sustainable materials is hard to resist. However, there are still some houses has a

combination of tradition and modernity, for example, the lower part is reinforced concrete but

the roof is covered with leaves, rattan, and thatched.

In addition to the change in architectural structure, there are many new decorative

motifs on the roof of Guol house which do not make a deep impression in the mind. Aesthetic

emotions are increasingly far away from the meaning of customs and spirituality. The image

of the pillar which was deep in the mind with fixed motifs in the past was also built but the

pattern and motifs have changed quite a lot. The image of the demon statues was also not

erected due to the absence of creators, the young people today for many reasons have not been

and do not want to be vocational transmission by the old artists. The strange drawings were

made on the composition, the disturbance of traditional positions, they were drawn randomly

and gradually away from the impression of folk art that close to nature.

3.4. The traditional values and some reflections on the preservation and protection of the

Guol house

a. Use values

Community function: Co Tu's Guol house is not a house for living, its functions as a

communal house of Kinh people. Traditional Guol house is considered the village soul, the

place for the village council to discuss, adjudicate and decide important village things. This is

a place for living, meeting, exchanging, playing and performing spiritual rituals of the

community such as the celebration of new harvest, the celebration of plentiful crops, buffalo

sacrifice, wedding, praying for peace, for seasons etc. Therefore, the Guol house works to

connect the members of the village and show the strength of the community.

Administrative function: In the past, the Guol house was the meeting place for the

elders, discussed common tasks such as: natural disaster prevention, epidemics, wild animals,

promulgating general regulations, sanctions, referendum of the whole community such as

production, activities, sacrifices, twinning, land using, marriage relations with other villages

etc. The head of a village is the village elders, the next is the mature men member to help the

village elders with community work, and the village's young men who carry out the elder's

orders and carry out important work of the community.

Cultural conservation function: In the past, Guol house was a place to transmit

information, exchange both experience of production and life. In the free days, or next to the

fire stove, the young generations often gather in Guol house to listen to the village elders and

village chiefs talk about production experience, life experience, customs etc. over time, the

stories, the personal experiences, the cultural of the village permeate the young generations

and in turn pass on all these things to the next generations.

The Guol house is a place to keep the hunted or sacrificial animals' skulls, to keep the

sacred treasures of the village such as gongs, drums, mugs, crossbows, water pots, weapons,

etc. In addition, this is the place where the intangible cultural products of the village such as

music, dance, singing through festivals, shows etc. which are held in the year and transmitted

on from generation to other generation.

b. Architectural and aesthetic values

The architecture of traditional community house, the Guol house has its own cultural

features and special structure. The frame of the house is a bearing system in Guol house's

architectural structure that focusing on a main pillar which is buried deep in the center of the

house and extending up to the top of the roof connecting the entire girder system, beam and

roof lever. The system of crossbars and longitudinal beams has the effect of linking each pair

of side columns together, contributing to create more solid house architecture. The house

consists of 3 crossbars (two auxiliary and one main beams) and a longitudinal beam goes

through the central pillar and is connected to the main pillar of the two gables. This type of

structure creates a special shape of ethnic minority houses and suits for the climate and

highland living conditions. The lever and roof system create beauty inside the Guol house

structure.

The timbers are taken and designed in the forest, when the trees are lowered, they are

still soft that easy to trim and bend, the roof is made of leaves. All construction materials are

directly exploited at the local, this construction-style model creates a initiative way, self-

sufficient and independent way, creating a sustainable development of the local. The aesthetic

of community houses is also showed through decorative patterns inside and outside the house.

The main pillar is decorated with an animal motif, leaves with vivid colors. On the other side

of the column body is a geometric motif of all colors and shapes. These geometric motifs are

not homogeneous in both styles and colors depicting leaves, wild flowers or beasts that make

up the unique characteristics of ethnic minorities. On the roof is the decorative image often

seen as the T’ring couple, meaning that the couple carries the grain of soul rice so that the

souls of the dead will not go astray when returning to their ancestors.

Figure 13. Roof beams system of Guol house Figure 14. Main pillar and crossbar in Guol

house

c. Spiritual values

The sacredness of the Guol house for the Co Tu people is similar to the long house of

the Ede people, the Rong house of the Ba Na and Xe Dang people. The unique feature of the

architecture is that the main pillar in the center of the house has a sculpture similar to the

column stabbed buffalo, which is considered the central symbol of the village. Co Tu people

believe that the pillar is a symbol of the image and prestige of the village. The bigger the main

pillar is, the more beautiful it is, the more solid the status of the village, the stronger the

credibility of the village owner. This is a very typical culture of ethnic people in Central-

Highlands region.

In addition, the inside of the Guol house, there is a place of worshiping the gods

according to the beliefs of Co Tu, worshiping grandparents, ancestors, they dedicated the

place to hang skulls of hunted beasts or buffalo skulls after each times the village held

festivals and traditional instruments. This is considered to be the most sacred space in Guol

because it is considered the residence of the spirits and demons (Figures 13, 14). These beliefs

create a hierarchical order, the strength and the unity from top to bottom of the ethnic unity

community.

Figure 15. The worship place in Guol house Figure 16. The decorative detail's main pillar in

the Guol house

The Guol house of the Co Tu people is associated with the activities, the spiritual life of

the people, is the cultural center, where all the entertainment activities take place as well as

solve important issues. of the village. So Guol is a place that unites and exposes the strength

of the community. The Co Tu people think that in Guol people should not fight etc. but

always unite to love and help each other.

The Guol house is considered the most located position, the defensive position and

stronghold of the village. If you want to protect the village first, you must protect Guol. In the

overall structure of Co Tu village, Guol is always built in the center, the open space for easy

observation, residence houses are located around the Guol.

Nowadays, due to the development of socio-economy, the influence of urbanization,

Guol has been more or less unable to adapt to the needs of the times, but it is still impossible

to lose or eliminate, it exists in the subconscious mind of every Co Tu people, a close and

familiar image, representing the Co Tu people and the nation.

4. Conclusion

Community houses of ethnic minorities in Central, Vietnam are a very unique

architectural style, imbued with cultural identity. This is one of the unique tangible and

intangible values of the people. In the past, every village of ethnic people had a community

house, the Guol house where they used to live, meet, play, and perform spiritual rituals of the

community. Therefore, the community house is closely attached and becomes the pride of

each member of the village.

Community house is a connecting space, a meeting point for members among

generations in a family, a clan, a village, a people and the whole village, outside people

through families, festivals, trade, community activities. Therefore, the community house is a

symbol, a place to connect and expose the strength of the community.

The process of urbanization and development of modern society has greatly affected the

survival of traditional community houses, especially the Guol house, nowadays the Guol

house is in danger of being lost or replaced by modern material's houses. Understanding the

traditional values of the communal house, Guol house, understanding the values of

community activities partly helps find suitable proposals to preserve and protect the Guol

house during the process of adapting and mixing with social development process without

losing local ethnic cultural identity.

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"Scientific Information", Vietnam Institute for Culture and Arts Studies in Hue.

[2] Le Anh Tuan (2015). Community development in ethnic minority groups in mountainous Central

Vietnam Regions, Vietnam: Some issues facing. "Kiến trúc Truyền thống và Cộng đồng",

Traditional Architecture and Community, Thuan Hoa Publishing House, Hue, pp.29-40.

[3] Truong Hoang Phuong, Hirohide Kobayashi (2015). The impact of the policy on the traditional

community of Katu people in Nam Dong, Thua Thien Hue. "Kiến trúc Truyền thống và Cộng

đồng", Traditional Architecture and Community, Thuan Hoa Publishing House, Hue, pp.75-90.

[4] Nguyen Ngoc Tung, Hirohide Kobayashi, and Vo Ngoc Duc (2011). Discussion of Traditional

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[6] Nguyen Ngoc Tung, Hirohide Kobayashi, Vo Ngoc Duc (2014). Pleliminary field survey on

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International Symposium on Formulation of The

Cooperation Hub Global Environmental Studies in Indochina Region”organised by Kyoto

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