Vietnamese modernist architecture is not lazy or formulaic

Most architects of my generation [Mel speaking here] designed modernist architecture because the architecture schools taught mid-century modernism. But many modernist architects were lazy at it — it was much easier to design a minimalist box than to create an ornate classical box. But Vietnamese modernist architecture is not lazy. Each side of the Vietnamese architects’ boxes often had a different design that accommodated the different sunlight conditions, or the site context, or the functional needs. And these designs were complex compositions of ins and outs, sunscreens, and decorative elements (not ornamentation). Alexandre Garel’s beautiful architectural photography here of the courtyard facade of the 1960 addition to the École Taberd (now the Trần Đại Nghĩa Specialist High School) shows the grid of vertical sun-breakers along the double wall created by an exterior corridor. The street facade along Hai Bà Trưng Street is very different. Vietnamese architect Huỳnh Kim Mãng designed this structure, as well as the completely-different auditorium building along Lý Tự Trọng Street.