Architecture Vietnam

Early Modernist Saigon Apartment Building

Heritage apartment building at 40-42 Nguyễn Huệ Blvd., Ho Chi Minh City

Photo by Alexandre Garel © 2018

The ten-story modernist apartment building at 40-42 Nguyễn Huệ Blvd. was constructed in Saigon around 1950. Old Saigoneers with long memories recall that the building was designed by a French architect. It is likely that the building was constructed by a French developer/constructor such as Société urbaine foncière indochinoise, or Brossard et Mopin with an in-house architect. French architects working for those firms in the late 1940s include Maurice Masson and Robert Giles. It is a simple expression of structure — columns and spandrel beams. This building shows the power of modernist architecture to accommodate the needs and desires of the users — the exterior walls of tenant spaces have changed over time. It also demonstrates the ability of modernist architecture to adapt to new uses — over time, trendy retail shops and cafes have taken over apartments.

International Style vs. Vietnamese Modernism

National Treasury Building at 37 Nguyễn Huệ Boulevard, Ho Chi Minh City

You may think the building in the middle of this photograph is a global International Style modernist building. It is not. The taller building behind it, designed by an American architect, is. What is the difference? International Style buildings are almost always glass and metal boxes or tubes, have smooth skins, and express the floor levels with horizontality. The building in the middle does not — It has variation in its glass and metal skin because vertical components were added that give the skin depth and detail. The building expresses some of its functions, beyond just office space, with the insets that may represent more ceremonial spaces. The Vietnamese building is a more vibrant human-scaled building. This is an addition to the HCMC branch of the National Treasury, occupied in 2007. Vietnamese architects Nguyễn Trường Lưu and Ngô Đằng Vân designed this building, and it is a Vietnamese modernist building.

How to see modernist buildings

Seaprodex Building, 4 Đồng Khởi Street, Ho Chi Minh City

Humans continuously search for novelty. As we walk along Đồng Khởi street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, we see the magnificent old colonial Grand Hotel. We see the new high-rise towers simply because of their size. What we don’t see, even though we walk right by them, are the majority of the buildings downtown: the modernist office and apartment buildings. HCMC is blessed by many excellent modernist buildings like the Seaprodex Building on the right in the photo. We don’t see them because they are so prevalent in HCMC, and they serve their purpose without flashy curves. Next time you walk along this street, take a closer look at this building. It features many fine modernist details, like the four-floors-high chevron-shaped sunscreen above the entry and the scalloped canopy.

The Intricacy of Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

V.A.R. Building at 9 Nguyễn Công Trứ Street, Ho Chi Minh City

The V.A.R. building at 9 Nguyễn Công Trứ Street in District One of Ho Chi Minh City was designed by Vietnamese architect Lê Văn Lắm and was occupied in 1973. It is one of the most beautiful examples of the intricacy of Vietnamese modernist design, created by the brise-soleil sun blocking elements producing a pattern over the facade of the building. This intricacy contributes to making Vietnamese modernist architecture much lighter than global modernism. The precast concrete components that make up this lacy skin testify to the sophisticated technical capability the Vietnamese architects and constructors had at that time.

A Ho Chi Minh City shophouse that exemplified the lightness of Vietnamese modernist architecture

Shophouse in Phú Nhuận district of Ho Chi Minh City

A fundamental characteristic of Vietnamese modernist architecture is its lightness, compared with global modernism. This lightness was often created by the use of very thin elements in the composition, such as the trellis elements at the roof of this townhouse. This shophouse was located at 411 Nguyễn Khiệm street in the Phú Nhuận district of Ho Chi Minh City. It has since been remodeled beyond recognition to a bland commercial style, and the trellis elements were demolished.

BATA Factory, HCMC

The image that we used for our introductory post was of the Bata factory in District 10 of Ho Chi Minh City. They used to make shoes in this factory. Unfortunately, the building is not currently used, which means that it is subject to demolition at any time.

The Bata company, originated in 1894 in Europe, has long been known for good design. They now have 4,900 shoe stores in 70 countries, so they are also known for being one of the first global companies. One of their first stores was this building in Prague, Czech Republic, constructed in 1929. It stands today as a modernist monument on Wenceslas Square. It would fit well in downtown Ho Chi Minh City today.

Photograph on Wikimedia Commons by BataLTD, 2005, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. 

Their factory building in Ho Chi Minh City was probably constructed in the 1960s to a design by an unknown Vietnamese architect, which we know simply because the building design is a stellar example of Vietnamese modernist architecture in a style common to the Golden Age of Vietnamese modernism.

Bata factory in District 10 of Ho Chi Minh City, Photograph by Alexandre Garel ©2018

Each side of the building is different, depending upon sun exposure. The facades either have brise-soleil screens or a grid of exterior elements that make a strong cellular impression. The more open street side is in effect a double wall with the long spandrels forming an outer wall and an interior wall behind the long corridor along the guard rails. It is a very subtle touch, but the corners of the spandrels and guard rails on this more open side flare out just a bit from the length of the spandrels. These are the kinds of features and touches that make Vietnamese modernist architecture unique in the world.

Our forthcoming book will feature this building, including some very beautiful photographs by Alexandre of the corner stairs in this building and the light patterns created by the brise-soleil screens.

 

A Monument of Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

International Aid Monument, Saigon

The International Aid Monument was erected in 1965 in downtown Saigon, RVN, in accordance with a modernist design by Vietnamese architect Nguyễn Kỳ. It stands in an octagon-shaped pool known as Turtle Lake (Hồ Con Rùa), in honor of the statue of a turtle that existed at the monument until the turtle was destroyed in 1978. The pool and monument are surrounded by a traffic roundabout. This photo was taken by me in 1972. As a freshly-graduated young American architect, I was shocked to see this modernist sculpture and how it represented the extent to which the Vietnamese culture had embraced modernism, much more than anywhere else in the world.

Welcome to Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

Bata Shoe Factory, Ho Chi Minh City

Mel Schenck and photographer Alexandre Garel welcome you to view the extraordinary modernist architecture of southern Vietnam.

Our book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture" features beautiful architectural photography that illustrates the outstanding accomplishment of the people of southern Vietnam in developing a mid-century modernist architecture that is extraordinary in the world.

Over the past eight decades of architectural history since the Japanese occupation of Vietnam in WWII, southern Vietnamese architects developed a version of modernist architecture that accommodated the tropical climate and reflected the identity of a newly independent nation.

The vast quantity and quality of Vietnamese modernist architecture constructed throughout southern Vietnam made it a center of modernism in the world. Most importantly, the southern Vietnamese as a culture embraced modernism, and it became the vernacular architecture of the culture, especially for dwellings.

Architectural historians, aficionados of modernist architecture, and anyone interested in Vietnamese culture will find that this book is a positive story about Vietnamese aspirations for independence and the value of modernist architecture in living in the world today.