Architectural strategy for climate change in Vinh Long rural house

Abstract

In the Mekong River Delta, Vinh Long province is currently suffering from envi-ronmental consequences due to the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, saline intrusion, landslides, erratic floods, and thunderstorms. Besides, along with the phenomenon of urbanization in rural areas and the lack of orientation in planning and architecture solutions, it has led to the rural housing in Vinh Long which is losing its indigenous characteristics and is not really suitable for local conditions. The survey result show that, there are five typical rural housing types in Vinh Long province. Among the five types of Vinh Long ru-ral housing, villas are the only ones not being affected by climate change. Tradi-tional housing is a type not significantly affected by climate change. Street hous-es, however, are dealing with the effects of river erosion and high tides. In partic-ular, pure-agricultural and simple housing are heavily affected by landslides, tidal surges, saline intrusion, and tornadoes. Based on the relationship with the charac-teristics of indigenous architecture, economic, social and environmental condi-tions of Vinh Long province, architectural solutions with regards to climate change have been proposed to improve the quality of life, to minimize the nega-tive impacts on the environment and to meet the needs of future sustainable development.