Rare Use of Wood in Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

Apartment house at 187-189 Nguyễn Thái Bình Street in Ho Chi Minh City

Almost all of the Vietnamese modernist buildings since 1950 use durable materials such as concrete and plaster. This apartment house at 187-189 Nguyễn Thái Bình street in District One of Ho Chi Minh City uses wood slats to block the sun from heating up the southwest facades of this building during the daytime. Architects and historians use the French words brise-soleil to describe this technique. This building presents a more uniform appearance than the more usual highly articulated facades of Vietnamese modernist architecture.