Art in Vietnamese modernist architecture was worth the additional cost in the south in the 1950s through the 1970s

Intricate sun-screen at General Science Library, Ho Chi Minh City

One of the defining characteristics of Vietnamese modernist architecture is its lightness and intricacy. This is often achieved through patterns of concrete screens that block the sun or provide ventilation. Vietnamese architects and builders perfected the means fo precast elements that make up a screen, or to construct the formwork necessary to pour concrete to create the screen directly on the building. The screen shown in the photograph is from the General Science Library on Lý Tự Trọng street in District One of Ho Chi Minh City. It appears that the screen was formed up on site. Considering the many buildings in Vietnam that used this technique, it is amazing that Vietnamese clients and owners were willing to pay the additional costs of such screens. That doesn’t seem to be the case nowadays. [Photo by Alexandre Garel © 2018]

Comments

[Cam]

hi
Your FB page and 'subscribe' button are not working. When will the book come out? do you have a blog/FB page still? Do you have info about the radio building that has the round, circular concrete screen?

[layered]

Thank you, Cam. I have fixed the FB page link. The subscribe button subscribes to whatever feed reader you have set up on your computer. I barely know what I am doing here with regard to technical issues, but that is how it works for me.
The book is written now and is being edited. Then it needs to be laid out and sent to the printer. It looks like publication is about six months away at this point -- maybe next February 2019.
I still have my personal FB page as well as the book page. I don't maintain my old blog "Antidote to Burnout" anymore, but it is still online.
I am not sure which Radio Building with a circular concrete screen you refer to. The HCMC Radio Building at 3 Nguyễn Đình Chiểu street in the Đa Kao ward of District One has rectilinear concrete screens. This design is by Vietnamese architect Lê Văn Lắm, and it was constructed over a long period from around 1969 to 1976.