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Foreword from the editorial board
Dear Readers,
The contemporary world is confronting an unprecedented convergence of global challenges: from climate change and energy crises to digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and rapid urbanization. Against this dramatic backdrop, the 2026 International Union of Architects (UIA) World Congress of Architects, held in Barcelona this past July, marked a profound paradigm shift within the architectural discourse. The discipline is now fundamentally approached through the lens of Architecture as Social Responsibility, serving as a vital catalyst for elevating the quality of the built environment and championing sustainable development.
This epochal evolution seamlessly aligns with the burgeoning concept of “Landscape Infrastructure,” which takes center stage in Architecture Magazine’s Special Feature for July 2026: “Landscape Infrastructure – A Sustainable Ecological Approach.” Through this visionary framework, infrastructural networks operate as highly performative ecological entities: They transcend mere technical requirements to actively regenerate natural resources, supplanting traditional, rigid “gray” infrastructure while offering resilient, adaptive responses to climate change.
In Vietnam, Landscape Infrastructure remains a nascent frontier in both theoretical discourse and architectural praxis. Amidst a sweeping wave of spatial restructuring, driven by administrative mergers, the reorganization of jurisdictions at various levels, and the implementation of a two-tier local governance model, the imperative to conceptualize a resilient, ecological infrastructure system has never been more critical. This is the pivotal moment for Vietnamese architects not only to assimilate cutting-edge global knowledge but also to proactively inject their localized empirical insights on adaptive architecture, social housing, community-centric design, and heritage conservation into the global architectural dialogue.
We extend our deepest gratitude for the invaluable professional collaboration of the Landscape Architecture Chapter – Vietnam Association of Architects (VAA), alongside the passionate contributions of our esteemed authors and collaborators! It is our profound hope that this Special Issue 07/2026 will impart invaluable intellectual capital, inspire pragmatic solutions for urban planning and design, and firmly assert the stature of Vietnamese architects in this new era.
We proudly present to our readers Architecture Magazine,
Issue 07/2026.
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Landscape Infrastructure: From Global Conceptualizations to an Applied Framework for Vietnam
• Dr. Arch. Nguyen Thai Huyen
Building upon these foundations, this article postulates a refined definition: Landscape infrastructure is an integrated territorial framework where natural elements, technical systems, and socio-cultural values coalesce to organize spatial typologies, sustain ecological functionalities, and champion sustainable development. This paradigm shift transitions the narrative from managing isolated, fragmented components to embracing the landscape as a holistic territorial system. Furthermore, it establishes a theoretical bedrock for weaving conservation goals, urban development, climate adaptation strategies, and the amplification of local identity into the spatial planning and management matrix of Vietnam.
Defining the concept of landscape infrastructure is instrumental in cultivating an integrated methodology for territorial planning and development, effectively transcending traditional disciplinary silos. Within the Vietnamese context, this transcends mere theoretical speculation; it serves as the foundational architecture for synthesizing natural, infrastructural, and cultural assets within spatial organization, steering toward sustainable evolution and resilient adaptation in the face of shifting environmental and social paradigms.
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Rural landscape infrastructure: The foundation for sustainable ecological development
• Dr. Arch. Luong Thuy Trang
Relentless urbanization and aggressive land-use transformations are steadily eroding the distinctive spatial characteristics of rural territories, while the ecological imperative of rural landscape infrastructure remains inadequately addressed in both research and planning praxis. Grounded in the theory of landscape infrastructure, this article dissects the pivotal role of these systemic networks in fostering sustainable ecological development. The findings elucidate that rural landscape infrastructure actively regulates environmental conditions, sustains biodiversity, and enhances community resilience, all while safeguarding vernacular values and catalyzing localized economic growth. Consequently, the author posits that rural landscape infrastructure must be recognized as an indispensable infrastructural component, mandating its seamless integration into the strategic orientations of spatial planning, management, and sustainable development.
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Landscape infrastructure – A sustainable approach for the urban evolution of Da Nang
• Dr. Arch. Pham Anh Tuan
Coastal cities across Vietnam, and Da Nang in particular, are grappling with a dual challenge: navigating rapid socio-economic expansion while mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change and sea-level rise. This dictates an urgent transition from conventional, hard-engineering infrastructure to nature-integrated developmental models. It is unequivocally clear that adopting a landscape infrastructure approach in urban planning and technical infrastructure development is an inescapable mandate for cities striving toward sustainability and resilience. As Da Nang envisions its future as an “Environmental City,” the application of this approach could play a transformative strategic role, striking a delicate equilibrium between socio-economic growth, tourism stimulation, and ecological preservation. However, the pressing challenge lies in the necessity for Da Nang’s urban authorities to undergo a fundamental paradigm shift in planning philosophy: moving away from the “control of nature” and toward “adaptation and symbiotic collaboration with nature.”
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Creative Conceptualization and Copyright Boundaries in Contemporary Spaces During the AI Era
• Dr. Tran Hau Yen The
From traditional art galleries plagued by crude plagiarism scandals like the “Dead Sea,” to digital entertainment realms such as Son Tung’s music videos, and culminating in the complex image-generation algorithms of Artificial Intelligence, the core essence of the copyright battlefield remains unchanged: It is a relentless struggle to defend the integrity of original thought against intellectual lethargy masquerading as creativity.
Contemporary art paves the way for boundless experimentation, including the appropriation and radical deconstruction of materials. Yet, Vietnamese artists and digital content creators must internalize a crucial reality: The protective umbrellas of “Conceptual Art” or “Fair Use” are exclusively reserved for those audacious minds willing to forge an entirely new philosophical lexicon for society. Any visual borrowing that merely serves to “aesthetically enhance” for commercial gain, devoid of transparent permission, constitutes a flagrant legal violation. The AI epoch may radically alter the tools of creation, but it cannot blur the ethical and legal demarcations of originality within the arts.
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Architectural criticism:
From “Reading” to “Dialogue” in the digital age
Architectural criticism: From “Reading” to “Dialogue” in the digital age – Part 2: The shifting paradigms of Architectural meaning in a new context
• Dr. Arch. Le Tran Xuan Trang
If the lens of Semiotics in Part 1 enabled us to approach the essence of architectural meaning as an evolving, structured “text,” Part 2 introduces a Phenomenological perspective, immersing that text into the contemporary milieu. Indeed, architecture has never existed in isolation from the pulse of life. Amidst the explosion of mass media and the pervasive intervention of the AI digital era, architectural meaning is undergoing a self-directed metamorphosis. It operates as a living, breathing entity, a space where authentic, humanistic experiences perpetually intertwine with media-driven illusions, demanding a methodology of recognition that is vastly more agile and discerning.
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From “Garbage Mountains” to Urban Parks: A Landscape Infrastructure Approach for Ho Chi Minh City’s 100-Year Vision
• Arch. Pham Ngoc Thang
Throughout the evolution of modern urbanism, technical infrastructure systems have conventionally been viewed as the utilitarian bedrock ensuring a city’s functional operation. However, confronted with the escalating challenges of resource depletion, severe land scarcity, and the pressing demand for elevated living standards, urban planning methodologies are experiencing a profound paradigm shift, transitioning from rigid, “hard” infrastructural models toward adaptive, “soft” infrastructural solutions.
Within this transformative wave, the metamorphosis of landfills into “landfill parks” emerges as a quintessential model of 21st-century landscape infrastructure. Particularly for Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), a metropolis currently charting an ambitious urban development strategy with a 100-year vision, the narrative of converting landfills into vibrant ecological parks is no longer a distant theoretical assumption, rather, it is rapidly solidifying into a highly strategic, actionable approach within the broader trajectory of sustainable urban development.
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Traditional Ruong House Architecture of Central Vietnam – Part 2: Configuration and Principles of Master Plan Spatial Organization
• Dr. Arch. Le Vinh An
• Arch. Nguyen Tuan Minh
The Hue Ruong House stands as one of the most quintessential typologies of traditional wooden architecture in Central Vietnam. While extensive research has delved into its architectural form and structural integrity, the overarching master plan organization of its residential compound has yet to be systematically codified. This study endeavors to illuminate the architectural logic governing the Hue Ruong House compound through a rigorous spatial analysis of its constituent elements. The research is anchored in empirical field surveys of 23 archetypal residential compounds across the Thua Thien Hue and former Quang Tri regions, synthesizing architectural measured drawings, photographic documentation, and spatial mapping against historical archives. The findings reveal that the Ruong House compound functions as a highly integrated architectural ecosystem, orchestrated within a stable spatial framework. Within this matrix, the main dwelling, entrance gate, auxiliary structures, and courtyard serve as the immutable core components, whereas the screen (bình phong), water tank, well, and garden act as fluid variables, adapting to temporal shifts and contextual nuances. Building upon this, the study proposes a tripartite analytical framework consisting of: the invariable core, the temporally transitional, and the contextually dependent elements. These insights significantly enrich the theoretical discourse on traditional residential architecture while providing actionable directives for holistic conservation efforts that prioritize the entire compound over isolated, individual structures.
