Aerial perspective of adapted dong-duong monastic complex in Savannah city grid.
Plan of Dong-duong monastic complex in original oglethorpe plan.
Buddhist architectural complexes produce a strong and complex relationship in plan with Western city grid planning through the intersection of rigid axiality with a regular, gridded form. This idea is explored through the interaction of the Dong-duong Monastery and the repetitive grid plan of historic downtown Savannah, Georgia. The collision of these two forms morph against one another, shifting and rotating to accommodate both the structure and needs of the new location and the historical religious ideals embedded in the original plan. Due to the South’s rich and deeply problematic history with race and religion, and the large Vietnamese community now thriving across various cities in the Deep South,[1] Savannah is a prime site for exploring one potential adaptation of architecture to the needs of a diasporic community.
Early Asian immigrants to the American South (especially due to their small numbers) found a very difficult line to straddle: they were neither black nor white, but living in a culture that only recognized this duality. Asian immigrants, especially South and Southeast Asians, found themselves at first segregated into black-only schools and jobs, and it wasn’t until the late 1920s that their status shifted to “honorary whiteness” through the common conversion to Christianity and shifting perspectives.[2] This complicated period is described in the books Southern Fried Rice and Lotus among the Magnolias.[3]
This cultural landscape shifted drastically during the latter half of the twentieth century, with American involvement in the Vietnam war. After the United States pulled out of the Vietnam War in 1975, Vietnamese communities in the South and across the rest of the United States flourished, especially due to large numbers of war brides[4] and refugees.[5] After years of continued growth of these populations, now numbering 365,000 across the state of Georgia,[6] Vietnamese communities are well-established across southern cities. Following Robert Tashima’s projection that “gradual introduction of Buddhist churches is recommended after acceptance is favorable,” it is in our current climate that a return to historical and traditional Buddhist forms could gain a foothold across the American South.[7] This project takes on an exploration of what this southern-fried Buddhist architecture could be.
The primary precedent for this design project is the Dong-duong Monastery in Vietnam, a Mahayana monastic complex built around 875CE.[8] While Vietnamese architecture typically has clear ties to Chinese influences, this complex and others built around the same time, during the Champa empire, have a distinct relationship to Indian architectural precedents.[9] Although conceptually and aesthetically similar to its Indian precedents, the complex draws from a linearity in plan which is uncommon in Indian Buddhist architecture, which primarily makes use of the mandala as a central organizational strategy.[10]
Although linear axiality is not the most common form of Indian Buddhist monastic complexes, the organizational strategy is not unrelated to the conceptual framework of the mandala. Mandala plans and their strong centrality and verticality highlight the axis mundi of Mount Meru in the z-direction, but building this architecture at a monumental scale is complicated and costly.[11] Dong-duong, having been built by a smaller empire that was frequently pressured on nearly all sides by larger warring empires, uses an elongated axiality as replacement for verticality.[12] This is an “apparent deviation from the concept of the high place” which would later be adopted and expanded upon by Indian, Javanese, Paganese, and Khmer architecture.[13]
The axiality of this complex is produced by three precincts organized along the east-west axis. Therefore, the elongation in plan not only embeds the Buddhist conception of the cosmic mountain, but also ideas about the sacred number three which repeatedly comes forward in Buddhist teachings. These three precincts embody various ideal of Buddhist teachings including the three worlds (the sensual, phenomenal world of desire or the Kāmadhātu, the world of form or the Rūpadhātu, and the world of formlessness Ārūpyadhātu.[14]) and their respective manifestations of the buddha, the nirmana-kaya, the sambhoga-kaya, and the dharmakaya.[15] This also relates strongly to the Buddhist conception of time highlighting the past, present, and future Buddhas: Dipankara, Shakyamuni, and Maitreya which can be seen in these column and bracket forms as well.[16] Furthermore the plan organization into three precincts is a formalization of the three most important parts of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (the community).[17]
These strong formal and conceptual ideas collide dynamically with the gridded plan of Savannah. This plan was first laid out circa 1732 when James Oglethorpe established the primary Georgian colony along the Savannah River.[18] This plan aligns not with the cardinal directions, which were of little to no relevance to enlightenment city planning, but rather the direction of the river at the best flatland to construct an organized, gridded city.[19] While much has changed since this original ward and square layout was set in motion, the historic district and some further expansion of Savannah has continued this gridded structure.
This all comes together at the current and crucial cultural moment where, as Vuong[20] describes it, “young people, who never knew the [Vietnam] war or the language” are “keeping family traditions alive.” In the introduction of Vietnamese Buddhist architecture to the differently-structured plan of Savannah, the axiality of the original plan necessarily interrupts the rigid grid. In response to this, as you can see in the plan on page two, the city pushes back against the interruption by introducing a cross-axiality to the otherwise strictly linear plan. This produces two effects: for the city of Savannah, it maintains legibility of the historical structure, and for the Buddhist architecture, it introduces an additional layer of metaphor, marking the four cardinal directions. This instigates a relationship with the four continents surrounding Mount Meru and pushes the singular axiality towards a cross-axiality which accepts a mandala-like restructuring of both the city and the Dong-duong Monastery’s reinterpretation.[21]
This morphological adaptation towards a consistent whole echoes the European enlightenment ideal that “underlying the appearance of randomness and discord in the world, there is a plan of perfect order and natural law that humans are capable of discovering and emulating.”[22] What this fascinating quote tells us, is that the boundary between Western and Eastern planning and conception of reality in this instance is not so distinct. Through the instigation of Buddhist architecture in rigid Western city planning, the boundary is blurred further, allowing the qualities and necessities of the city grid to facilitate the conceptual agenda of the Buddhist architecture.
"About." Savannah Buddhist. Accessed May 9, 2019. http://savannahbuddhist.org/about.
Bunce, Fredrick W. The Iconography of Architectural Plans: A Study of the Influence of Buddhism and Hinduism on Plans of South and Southeast Asia. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld (P), 2002.
"Countries of Birth for U.S. Immigrants, 1960-Present." Migrationpolicy.org. January 16, 2019. Accessed May 9, 2019. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrants-countries-birth-over-time?width=900&height=850&iframe=true.
Georgia History. "Oglethorpe and Savannah's City Plan." Georgia Historical Society. Accessed May 9, 2019. https://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/james-edward-oglethorpe/savannahs-city-plan/.
Leidy, Denise Patry. The Art of Buddhism: An Introduction to Its History and Meaning. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2008.
Mohl, Raymond A., and John E. Van Sant, Far East, down South: Asians in the American South. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2016.
Montoya, Orlando. "Vietnamese New Year Celebrates Culture and Community." Connect Savannah. March 03, 2019. Accessed May 9, 2019. https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/vietnamese-new-year-celebrates-culture-and-community/Content?oid=11599068.
Wilson, Thomas D. The Oglethorpe Plan. University of Virginia Press, 2012.
[1] Raymond A. Mohl and John E. Van Sant, Far East, down South: Asians in the American South. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2016, xi.
[2] Mohl and Van Sant, Far East, down South, 2016, 159.
[3] Ibid, xiii.
[4] Thomas D. Wilson, The Oglethorpe Plan. University of Virginia Press, 2012, 84.
[5] Ibid, 86.
[6] Mohl and Van Sant, 2016, xi.
[7] Ibid, 17.
[8] Fredrick W. Bunce, The Iconography of Architectural Plans, New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2002, 356.
[9] Ibid, 351.
[10] Ibid, 358.
[11] Ibid, 351.
[12] Bunce, The Iconography of Architectural Plans, 2002, 351.
[13] Ibid, 358.
[14] Denise Patry Leidy, The Art of Buddhism, 70.
[15] Leidy, 69.
[16] Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge: University Press, 1990), 15.
[17] Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism, 177.
[18] Wilson, The Oglethorpe Plan, 64.
[19] Ibid, 64.
[20] A Vietnamese resident of Savannah, Georgia since he began working at Hunter Army Airfield during the Vietnam War. He is now a leading member of the Savannah Vietnamese Nationalist Association and was an important contact for Connect Savannah’s article on Vietnamese New Year celebrations. (Montoya, ”Vietnamese New Year Celebrates Culture and Community,” 2019.)
[21] Bunce, The Iconography of Architectural Plans, 2002, 36.
[22] Wilson, The Oglethorpe Plan, 65.
[2] Mohl and Van Sant, Far East, down South, 2016, 159.
[3] Ibid, xiii.
[4] Thomas D. Wilson, The Oglethorpe Plan. University of Virginia Press, 2012, 84.
[5] Ibid, 86.
[6] Mohl and Van Sant, 2016, xi.
[7] Ibid, 17.
[8] Fredrick W. Bunce, The Iconography of Architectural Plans, New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2002, 356.
[9] Ibid, 351.
[10] Ibid, 358.
[11] Ibid, 351.
[12] Bunce, The Iconography of Architectural Plans, 2002, 351.
[13] Ibid, 358.
[14] Denise Patry Leidy, The Art of Buddhism, 70.
[15] Leidy, 69.
[16] Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambridge: University Press, 1990), 15.
[17] Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism, 177.
[18] Wilson, The Oglethorpe Plan, 64.
[19] Ibid, 64.
[20] A Vietnamese resident of Savannah, Georgia since he began working at Hunter Army Airfield during the Vietnam War. He is now a leading member of the Savannah Vietnamese Nationalist Association and was an important contact for Connect Savannah’s article on Vietnamese New Year celebrations. (Montoya, ”Vietnamese New Year Celebrates Culture and Community,” 2019.)
[21] Bunce, The Iconography of Architectural Plans, 2002, 36.
[22] Wilson, The Oglethorpe Plan, 65.
Elevation of main shrine at Dong-duong monastery
Plan of Dong-duong monastery
Plan of Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia
