Research on the Effect of Natural Landscape on the Architecture of High-Rise Buildings in Nha Trang City, Viet Nam

In some cities, the natural landscape has a well-defined geomorphological structure. The architecture of high-rise buildings is often inspected and assessed in association with the natural landscape through these questions: How has the natural landscape affected the architecture of high-rise buildings? How are natural landscape elements exploited in the design of high-rise buildings? What are the limitations in exploitation of the above factors? Moreover, these limitations are analyzed and inspected to improve and enhance the quality of high-rise buildings architecture. In this article, Nha Trang, a tourist city in the central of Vietnam, is chosen as a typical example. Through the visual approach, the morphological features of high-rise buildings in Nha Trang city are identified and evaluated. By applying scientific observation method to the architectural form of high-rise buildings, the authors evaluate the influence of the natural landscape on the architecture of high-rise buildings from the overall form to the details of the spatial structure inside the building. The obtained results show that the architectural form of high-rise buildings in the coastal area of Nha Trang city has a connection with the natural landscape in the development progress; however, when designing some buildings, the architects have not paid proper attention to the affects of natural landscape to their structure. From the outcomes, the authors propose that to enhance the quality of high-rise buildings architecture of Nha Trang city, there should be design directions by matching designs and natural landscape as well as by inspecting the affects of it to the buildings.