Architecture Vietnam

Collaboration with the Tản Mạn Kiến Trúc Group

I have been very pleased recently to collaborate with the Tản Mạn Kiến Trúc group to make two presentations about the new Vietnamese translation of my book “Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture”. This group of young scholars and architects has developed a strong organization to help raise the awareness of the value of heritage architecture in Vietnam. Their presentations and published materials are very professionally accomplished and they have developed a large following.

I want to thank Trương Trần Trung Hiếu of the Tản Mạn Kiến Trúc group for organizing, coordinating, and doing the translation of my presentations. Through his efforts, we met our goal to reach out to Vietnamese young people, who will now make a difference in the community for protection of this heritage architecture.

The Tản Mạn Kiến Trúc group website is at https://www.tanmankientruc.org/gioi-thieu and their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/tanmankientruc

Vietnamese-language Version of the book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture"

Alexandre Garel and I are proud to announce the publication of the Vietnamese translation of our book as “Kiến Trúc Hiện Đại Miền Nam Viet Nam”. It is available in Phương Nam bookstores in Vietnam as two large-format color versions: a hardcover version and a softcover version. We are very grateful to Ms. Candy Nguyen for translating the book for the Phương Nam Book Company, and to KTS Bùi Thúc Đạt for reviewing the book under tight time constraints, and Nghia Đinh for proofreading.

In my book “Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture”, there are 148 buildings located in Ho Chi Minh City alone, and of these, 11 have been demolished (that I know of) and 27 more buildings are in immediate danger of demolition. So this book stands as a record of the accomplishment of the Vietnamese people in developing this stunning architecture in the mid-twentieth century. We are now rapidly losing this legacy and identity. Therefore we hope this book is a catalyst for raising the awareness of the heritage values of this architecture.

Raising Awareness of Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

Vietnamese journalist Nguyên Vân has published a good summary of our “Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture” book in one of the mainstream newspapers here in Vietnam, Thanh Niên. It can be viewed at the following link (in Vietnamese language):  

https://thanhnien.vn/kien-truc-su-nguoi-my-va-50-nam-say-me-kien-truc-hien-dai-mien-nam-viet-nam-post1541455.html?fbclid=IwAR2-ikiy3Mt7H2iwAXeUKM-ik7pNi5zqxGuHanDjOIobXEaySy64fHXZx6g

Mr. Vân attended our Vietnamese-language version book launch event on 12 January here in Ho Chi Minh City to gather information for his article. Following is a Google Translate version of his article in English:

 

American architect and 50 years of passion for modern South Vietnamese architecture

By Nguyên Vân

Published 13 January 2023

In THANH NIÊN Newspaper

Vietnamese people have every right to be proud of their different version of modern architecture because they have succeeded in developing an architectural style that clearly shows the national identity.

That is the opinion of Mel Schenck, an American architect with more than 50 years of experience in managing the design, construction of complex planning and construction projects. The book Modern Architecture of Southern Vietnam by Mel Schenck and photographer Alexandre Garel has just been released as proof of that statement, as well as to introduce the history of this achievement to Vietnamese people everywhere and to the whole world.

This is the third edition of this book. The first version is the international edition published in April 2020 (paperback, color print). The 2nd edition of World Publishing House released in May 2020 (black and white paperback in English). The 3rd edition is the Vietnamese edition published by Phuong Nam Book in 2022 (a few omissions have been corrected and added in this Vietnamese, paperback and hardcover edition).

Big Love

Architect Mel Schenck has resided in Vietnam since 2006, having studied Vietnamese modern architecture right from the first encounter. “I was extremely surprised at the size and quality of them in Saigon when I was here from 1971 to 1972. At that time, I had just graduated from an architecture school in the US for a year, so I felt like I was lost in the world. paradise of architecture”, he said at a book introduction session yesterday on January 12 at Nam Thi House, Ho Chi Minh City.

Talking to readers, Mel Schenck said that the book, made in the last few years, is the fruit of his great and persistent love for modern South Vietnamese architecture from 50 years ago.

“Vietnamese people are gradually losing their own legacies, which could have been left to future generations to continue to admire and appreciate their value.” — Architect Mel Schenck

Regarding this book, architect Dam Vu acknowledges: "Under the sharp perspective of an experienced architect in the US, with the sharp thinking of an in-depth researcher who has lived in Vietnam for many years. , Mel Schenck has brought to domestic and foreign readers a valuable source of analytical data about modern architectural works here. Through each carefully crafted page, the architectural legacies of the Vietnamese generation of architects in the golden age will partly help us to better visualize the characteristics of modern architecture with bold imprints. Vietnamese".

Not only that, as shared by author Mel Schenck, all images in the book were captured by photographer Alexandre Garel (born in France, living in Ho Chi Minh City since 2011) during her creative activities in Vietnam. and France as a photojournalist, travel photographer, and architecture photographer. “His love of the city and heritage architecture is reflected in the unique photographs in this book,” says author Mel Schenck.

Are Vietnamese people losing their heritage?

Mel Schenck said he has selected more than 150 modern architectural works in Vietnam in the mid-20th century to introduce in the book, based on a database of more than 400 works and is still updating new findings every day.

“It is surprising that until recently, no Vietnamese or international authors have paid attention to the architecture of this period. The analytical study of this architectural style would have been more convenient if we had a foundation to do it," he said, citing the scarcity of archival materials as well as the inability to find them fully. sufficient facts even if they exist, “we will be held responsible for any unavoidable errors or misunderstandings contained in this book.”

Accordingly, the book is a professional synthesis - research and cataloging of architectural works based on their aesthetic and social values. However, because the data is not found or there are conflicting sources, the names of architects and construction dates are also omitted from most of the projects in the book.

The author also added, of the architectural works included in the book, currently 11 have been demolished and 27 other works are on the verge of being destroyed. "Vietnamese people are gradually losing their own legacies, which could have been left to future generations to continue to admire and appreciate their value," he said, referring to a Among the works, according to him, is very regrettable, when demolished, is the building at 30 Phung Khac Khoan (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City). This was originally built with the function of a villa or an embassy in the diplomatic district of the city. “Unfortunately, the building was demolished before this book was printed,” says author Mel Schenck.

END

Student Responses to Vietnamese Modernism

Vietnamese architect Nguyễn Khiêm teaches a class at the University of Architecture of Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to practicing architecture at his own firm. In a recent classroom exercise at the university, he instructed the students to read and analyze a Vietnamese translation of a presentation I had put together to exhibit my ideas about Vietnamese modernist architecture from the mid-twentieth century. KTS Khiem has published two of the student responses so far on Facebook, and the responses are what I had always hoped for — an increasing awareness amongst Vietnamese of the tremendous accomplishment of the Vietnamese people in developing this modernist architecture on their own.

The first student response can be found at this link, in Vietnamese language:  https://www.facebook.com/nkhiem/posts/pfbid02mx6yJAGwY4owd2dWLRT42URmYRVnS6khUC7VQRZaZzRSWtZNkwh7paWhhGAaHZhgl

I am especially gratified in this response that the student now realizes that the modernist architecture in Vietnam was not produced by foreign architects, and now sees that Vietnamese modernist architecture is stronger than global modernist architecture. The student was happily surprised that the Vietnamese people themselves had developed Vietnamese identity in their vernacular houses.

The second student response can be found at this link, in Vietnamese language:  https://www.facebook.com/nkhiem/posts/pfbid0YSXGaUbFkkYeobS1axrCkTq5LXoUGvHykdph82XKUqc3XxNQYfJCAxFMWSkhUsWHl

This student was reacting to a statement the student had heard from many architects that "Vietnam has no characteristics of architecture”, and the student now realizes that Vietnamese modernist architecture, developed by Vietnamese themselves, is a much richer version of modernism than the global modernist architecture seen around the world, and therefore Vietnam does have its own characteristic architecture.

I am happy that the student questioned whether a foreign architect like myself could determine accurately Vietnamese identity in this modernist architecture. By visiting the buildings mentioned my book, the student came to the conclusion that I had adequately done so.

The Values of Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

Mel is pleased that his article on the values of Vietnamese modernist architecture has been published by TiaSáng Magazine, the publication of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Vietnam. I wrote the article in English, of course, and they translated it to Vietnamese for publication. You can find the Vietnamese-language version of the article on their website at https://tiasang.com.vn/van-hoa/kien-truc-hien-dai-gia-tri-rieng-cua-viet-nam/

Here is the lede paragraph for this article:

“Over the ages of history, architecture has represented the values of the civilizations in all parts of the world. Heritage architecture has great value because it tells us who we were and are, and how social or national identities have grown or changed. The mid-twentieth century was a particularly important time period for defining or representing Vietnam’s identity after colonialism. Vietnamese architects adapted global modernism to reflect Vietnamese identity in a newly-independent culture. Vietnamese modernist architecture therefore has great value in showing Vietnamese people and the people of world the strong identity and values of a strong nation.”

You can read or download the English-language version of this article from Google Drive at

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zd76_2nv7TqsoPXMaJ9a5Pg3ehHG7KY_/view?usp=sharing

The Rounded Edges of architecture in Vietnam

Professor Hazel Hanh of Seattle University wrote and published a very interesting academic article entitled “Rounded Edges: Modernism and Architectural Dialogue in Ho Chi Minh City”. You can download this paper here . In addition to recognising the diversity of architecture in Ho Chi Minh City, it focuses on the feature of rounded corners on buildings in Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh. This technique of design provides unity amongst the various styles of architecture in these cities and shows how the population recognised and used the value of this technique.

Heritage Conservation for Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

 

Vietnamese modernist architecture of the mid-twentieth-century is disappearing rapidly in the twenty-first century. I think we can agree on the historical, social, and aesthetic values of these heritage structures. In addition, a strong argument can also be made that the richness of Ho Chi Minh City’s urban environment projects a strong identity that attracts investment and tourism. We need to work together to find ways to protect these historic structures and the Vietnamese identity that they represent.

The video available at the link below provides the context and details of the opportunities for those with vision and money to adapt these heritage structures for new uses or to conserve them.

https://youtu.be/AXkG_plGrb4

This presentation by architect Mel Schenck in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was originally developed for presentation to the design studio of Professor Erik L’Heureux in the Department of Architecture of the National University of Singapore, delivered online on 27 January 2022.

This episode is the second of two episodes comprising that presentation, with this one focusing on reuse and conservation of these historical structures from the mid-twentieth-century, and the first episode focusing on adaptation to the tropical climate.

Vietnamese Modernist Architecture in the Tropical Climate

 

In addition to its expression of Vietnamese identity in the Industrial Age vocabulary of modernism, southern Vietnamese modernist architecture of the mid-twentieth-century responded in innovative ways to resist the impacts of the tropical climate while enhancing the experience of natural phenomena in the environment. The video available at the link below provides the context and details of the methods used in Vietnamese modernist architecture to accomplish these objectives.

https://youtu.be/CLindLgPr_Q

This presentation by architect Mel Schenck in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was originally developed for presentation to the design studio of Professor Erik L’Heureux in the Department of Architecture of the National University of Singapore, delivered online on 27 January 2022.

This episode is the first of two episodes comprising that presentation, with this one focusing on adaptation to the tropical climate, and the second on reuse and conservation of these historical structures from the mid-twentieth-century.

Errata Already

Given my inability to find direct evidence available in Vietnam about mid-century modernist architecture, I am not surprised that errors have already surfaced in our book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture." I am sure we will find more errors later, but here are three important ones known already:

1. On page 327 of the Vietnam edition of the book, the French-Vietnamese architect for the 95 Pasteur Street apartment building was listed as René Nguyễn Khắc Schéou, as cited in other works about Vietnamese modernism. However, Nghia Nguyen and Thanh Nguyen of the Facebook Vietnamese Modernist Architecture group have both determined, from evidence in the National Archives, that KTS Hoàng Hùng had designed this building.

2. On page 208 of the book, we listed Ngô Viết Thụ as the design architect for the University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Thanh Nguyen found paper evidence that a team of five Vietnamese architects assisted with the design. Although unnamed, three of the architects have been identified as Ngô Viết Thụ, Bùi Quang Hanh and possibly Lê Văn Lắm.

3. On page 162, the prominent Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann is named as the designer of the Embassy for Cambodia at what is now 185 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám Street. Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn has now found significant evidence that Vietnamese architect Hoàng Hùng was responsible for this design.

The best news here is that Vietnamese researchers are now combing through the National Archives and other sources to prove the facts of the development of mid-century Vietnamese modernist architecture.

One of the best examples of the golden age of Vietnamese modernist architecture

In our upcoming book, "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture", we make the claim that the period of Vietnamese history between 1945 through 1975 can be considered a golden age of Vietnamese modernism. Unlike most places in the world, Vietnam embraced modernism and the industrial age, and the development of Vietnamese modernist architecture during this period brought forth a distinctive version of modern architecture that is unique in the world. This mid-twentieth-century architecture in Vietnam parallels the development of mid-century modern architecture in America and other places around the world.

Most of the projects featured in our book were designed during that period, but all of them were buildings that Alexandre Garel could find and photograph. Therefore there were a lot of beautiful projects that we could not include. The photograph above illustrates one of the best examples of Vietnamese modernism. It shows the Standard Vacuum Oil Company building that was constructed in downtown Saigon in 1955. The building later became known as the ESSO building. Unfortunately, it was demolished in 2011.

The architect is unknown. Some speculate that it might have been an American firm, but the architecture is consistent with the characteristics of Vietnamese modernist architecture developed by Vietnamese architects.

Photo source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StanVacBuilding1955.jpg, user latinsq

Southern Vietnamese architects adapted global modernist architecture because it accommodated the tropical climate

A friend asked me a while back why the Vietnamese architects adopted European modernist architecture after colonialism rather than develop their own indigenous architecture. The most important answer is that southern Vietnamese people see good ideas and adapt them to fit southern Vietnamese needs. This comes from a long history of contact with European and Asian traders along the coast. The southern Vietnamese architects could see how modernist architecture could be easily adapted to suit the tropical climate. They also saw similarities to Vietnamese traditional architecture that could be enhanced to project Vietnamese identity.

But modernism isn’t just a European idea. Although Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe of the Bauhaus were German and Le Corbusier was French-Swiss, the other pioneers of modernism were Americans like Frank Lloyd Wright and William LeBaron Jenney with the first metal-framed skyscraper in Chicago in 1885. The Russians were also pioneers of modernism with their Constructivist architecture.

Modernism quickly spread throughout the world between the world wars and became a global movement. But the primary impetus came after World War II with the cascading independence of former colonial countries in Africa, South America, and Asia in the 1950s. These countries inevitably embraced mid-century modern architecture. Because it suited Vietnamese identity so well, the southern Vietnamese embraced it totally into the culture and made Vietnamese modernist architecture the vernacular architecture for houses.

Photograph: Robie House, Chicago, 1910 — Source: Teemu08, https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Frederick_C._Robie_ House.JPG, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Abstract expression of Vietnamese architecture of the mid-century is exhibited in a small southern Vietnam hotel

Alex and I are pleased that our book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture: Mid-Century Modernism" is getting closer to publication. We are blessed with the graphic design talent of Mads Monsen in laying out the book design for the international version. With his layout, we now know that there are too many pages to economically print, so we have made some tough decisions to delete a few of the projects. The Ngọc Mỹ Hotel is one of them.

This small four-story hotel (now an apartment building) at Two Trần Ngọc Diện Street in the Thảo Điền Ward of District Two is an abstract expression of function in its composition. While the bathrooms are the plain wall areas, the balconies cantilever out with large openings into the rooms.

The beams showing under the roof plane and each of the balconies express the structure. Planters on the terraces are lifted up from the balcony floors to become sculptural elements. You can see by the high-rise luxury housing in the background that architectural heritage like this is threatened with demolition. 

This beautiful architectural photography is copyrighted by Alexandre Garel 2019.

Le Corbusier’s Influence on Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

Le Corbusier was the 'nom de plume' of Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, who was born in Switzerland but practiced architecture primarily in France. He was one of the pioneers of the new modernism in Europe in the 1920s. Arthur Kruze, the Director of the Architecture Department of 'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine' in Hanoi undoubtedly presented Le Corbusier’s early work on villas to his architecture students. But it was in the 1950s that Le Corbusier’s work made an immediate impact on Vietnamese modernist architecture. It is likely that southern Vietnamese architects became well aware of Le Corbusier’s work in India, especially the Secretariat of the union government of the Punjab in the new Capitol Complex at Chandigarh, India, in 1953. This building displays the articulation of architectural features in composing the facade, such as the low walls making up guard rails at the balconies, separated from the columns. The horizontal planes at the loggias act as deflectors for light into the interior spaces, as well as platforms for air conditioning condensers. Architectural elements like this with adaptations for the tropical climate became standard features of Vietnamese mid-century modern architecture. [Architectural photography used under CC BY 2.0 license, Source: Lian Chang from New York City, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chandigarh_Secretariat.jpg]

Why did the southern Vietnamese culture embrace modernism?

Modernism has not been widely accepted by people around the world. While it sometimes became the architecture of commerce and government, it has rarely become the vernacular architecture of dwellings or small workplaces. Global modernist architecture is often perceived as soulless and bland because of the smooth glass and metal boxes that have proliferated around the world. Southern Vietnam is one of the few places in the world where modernism was not only accepted but embraced. Vietnamese modernist architecture became the vernacular architecture for shophouses and villas in southern Vietnam from the 1950s onwards.

In my forthcoming book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture," I offer several reasons why the culture embraced modernism. The architectural photography illustrates a few of these reasons. The top photograph was taken by me in Saigon in 1972 across from the "Turtle Lake" monument at the intersection of Phạm Ngọc Thach and Võ Văn Tân Streets in Ho Chi Minh City. The bottom photograph was taken by me in 2015. The building is not smooth and minimalist like global modernist structures. The exterior walls set back from the outer frame of this mid-century modern building provide an interplay of light and dark that provides interest and human scale to a large apartment building. The exterior grid of thin columns and floor beams features added horizontal elements that provide decorative interest to the building, and since each floor is well-defined instead of lost in the overall skin of the building, it gives human scale related to the height of a person. The southern Vietnamese people could see precedents here from Vietnamese traditional architecture and perceived Vietnamese identity in this new architecture that was different from world architecture. In addition, Vietnamese modernist architecture was highly adaptable to intervention by the people themselves, as shown in the various changes to the building over time as seen in the photographs.

 

Vietnamese modernist architecture is based upon traditional Vietnamese architecture

In our forthcoming book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture," we make the claim that the mid-century modern architecture in Vietnam continues the Vietnamese identity established in traditional Vietnamese architecture. The French architecture professors of École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi (Fine Arts College of Indochina, begun in 1925) had their Vietnamese students study traditional Vietnamese architecture so that it could inform their development of following architecture. The professors were looking forward to a mix of French Beaux-Arts architecture and traditional Vietnamese architecture, exemplified by the Indochine Style of French-colonial architecture developed in the 1920s. But the Vietnamese students jumped ahead to modernist architecture, including art deco variations.

But they did retain Vietnamese identity in their new modernist architecture? A look at several examples of traditional Vietnamese architecture suggests that they did. Consider the Dền Bà Kiệu in Hanoi, a temple constructed in the 1620s. This building is typical of many temples and community halls throughout Vietnam. The photograph shows a restrained architecture that emphasizes the darkness of the veranda in relation to the lightness of the roof and the structural columns. The structure is the post and beam frame that became the primary feature of Vietnamese modernist architecture. The colors are muted earth tones. These features are what distinguished traditional Vietnamese architecture from Chinese architecture, and therefore created Vietnamese identity.

Any number of Vietnamese modernist buildings meet these same criteria, but this beautiful architectural photography [© 2019 by Alexandre Garel] of a Mekong Delta house makes it very clear.

Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture is the Antithesis of Brutalism

Southern Vietnamese modernist architecture is not brutalist. Brutalism was a style name that was applied to many mid-century modern buildings in Europe and America that featured bare rough concrete. The name originally came from the French words béton-brut, which means raw concrete. Many of Le Corbusier’s works became associated with this term since the elements of his forms used raw concrete showing the formwork marks of the boards. The elements of his compositions were also rather heavy and his major housing projects in France were massive. Over time, these and other designs took on the connotation of brutal. When combined with the public’s perception of soulless modern architecture in the years after World War II, brutalism became a pejorative term.

Today, people are beginning to understand and value this architecture as heritage, and the term brutalist is being applied to many buildings even if they don’t meet the spirit of the term.

Southern Vietnamese modernist architecture is not brutalist. The modern architecture of Vietnam rarely uses raw concrete. The reinforced concrete structural frames are covered with plaster, and the facade surfaces are usually brick faced with plaster. In the mid-century, Vietnamese modernist buildings used a rough form of plaster featuring washed stone embedded in the plaster. But the overall effect of this was still a relatively smooth surface.

Most importantly, southern Vietnamese modern architecture is characterized by its lightness. The structural columns are made as thin as possible. Light thin elements such as sun shades are added that increase the effect of lightness. This lightness is the antithesis of brutalism. This beautiful architectural photograph by Alexandre Garel of the 1960s apartment building at 12 Võ Văn Kiệt Boulevard in Ho Chi Minh City shows that this large building displays very well the lightness of Vietnamese modernist architecture.

Could We Still Build Something as Beautiful as Notre-Dame?

Andrew Sullivan, a British immigrant to America, is one of Mel’s favorite writers. He usually writes from a center-right position about politics and social matters, most recently for New York Magazine. His latest long column ended with a short segment lamenting the inability of architecture in the modern era to match that of Notre Dame. The headline above is his section heading.

Sullivan thinks that the primary criteria for modernist architecture is function and cost, and the creation of beauty is subordinate. He is definitely wrong. He stated, "Even if you survey modern cathedrals, there is a lack of detail and an absence of the kind of skill that enabled the twelfth century to construct marvels beyond our capacity." He mistakes the crustiness of ornamentation for complexity, and he hasn’t looked for the exquisite materials and details of modernist construction.

Notre Dame Cathedral is a prime example of the architecture of the agricultural age; times when religion was the primary purpose for life and architecture focused on God or the gods.

Today is Easter, and I am celebrating with fellow Christians the resurrection of Christ. But religion is not central in the industrial age, or the information age that we are now entering. Science became predominant in modernity, and we turned our attention to the quality of life.

The many beautiful modernist houses that have been constructed over the past hundred years are probably the best buildings to illustrate the equal design quality of our times. The houses of Frank Lloyd Wright alone compare favorably with any architecture in the world. From thousands of beautiful modernist houses that exemplify the beauty of modernist architecture, consider this villa from our forthcoming book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture." It is located at 29 Phạm Ngọc Thạch Street in District 3 of Ho Chi Minh City. It was designed by Vietnamese architect Nguyễn Văn Hoa in the 1960s. This beautiful architectural photograph is by Alexandre Garel © 2019.

Beautiful architectural photographs document a disappearing mid-century modern architectural history

Architectural history is disappearing faster than we can learn from it. This beautiful architectural photograph by Alexandre Garel (© 2019) illustrates one of the most stunning Vietnamese modernist villas designed and constructed in Saigon in the 1960s. Located at 30 Phùng Khắc Khoan Street in the Dakao Ward of Ho Chi Minh City, known as the diplomatic quarter in the mid-century, it may have originally been an embassy. It has been occupied by the District One Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam since 1975.

It was just demolished.

This is one of several recently demolished projects that will be published in our forthcoming book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture." Our book will serve as a record of these projects, and it is unfortunately likely that other beautiful Vietnamese modernist architecture exemplars like this one will be demolished soon. Regrettably, this building will probably be replaced by a government style of architecture that doesn’t recognize what can be learned from modernist buildings like this.

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.

Ornamentation is not normally used in modernist architecture

Ornamentation on Independence Palace, Ho Chi Minh City

Modernist architecture does not use ornamentation. Ornaments are usually sculptures attached to the building — they represent something or have easily understood symbolic meaning. Modernist architecture is abstract. So why is ornamentation featured on Vietnam’s most recognized modernist public building, the Independence Palace? Architect Ngô Viết Thụ incorporated these bas-relief sculptures below the windows. They represent Vietnamese imagery. But they are finely detailed and dense, and therefore they "read" as texture in the design. Whether they are seen and studied, or viewed as part of the composition, they contribute to Vietnamese identity in this design.

 

Ordinary Architecture

An ordinary modernist house in Ho Chi Minh City

When the vast majority of houses in southern Vietnam are modernist, you can be forgiven for not seeing them anymore. They line all the streets and lanes of the cities and villages. They are “ordinary” houses. But they are magnificently Vietnamese modernist architecture! This simple apartment house is a good example. It exhibits the principles of VMA with its expression of structure, inset exterior wall to reduce sun exposure, and simple detailing that is nevertheless composed and interesting. It is simple but still more complicated than the more minimalist western architecture.

Minimal American influence on Vietnamese modernist architecture in the mid-20th century

Apartment blocks at 239 Cách Mạng Tháng 8 street in Ho Chi Minh City

In researching and studying Vietnamese modernist architecture, we came to the conclusion that Americans had very little influence on the development of Vietnamese modernist architecture in southern Vietnam from 1945 to 1975. Although there was a huge American construction program in the 1960s, most of that was devoted to infrastructure such as airports, seaports, military bases, highways, and bridges.

But this housing project at 239 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám street in District Three did exhibit some American influence. Most Vietnamese modernist apartment buildings appeared lighter through the use of inset double-wall construction and sun-blocking elements. This building, which was being demolished when Alexandre Garel photographed it last Springtime, appears heavier because the exterior walls and windows are brought out to the sun, and balconies are added on the building rather than being inset as in Vietnamese housing. [photograph © 2018 by Alexandre Garel]

 

The other side of buildings

Courtyard of apartments at 95 Pasteur Street in Ho Chi Minh City

Prior to the introduction of lower-cost air conditioning, buildings were often planned to maximize through-ventilation. An apartment or an office can be laid out in about six or seven meters in width, and then an open exterior corridor would be provided. This narrow a space allowed sufficient air to pass through. On a larger downtown plot of land, two wings of a U-shaped building could each have eight-meter wide wings with a courtyard in between. These courtyards, while unseen by most people, are still a design opportunity. Here in the 95 Pasteur Street Apartments in District One of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamese architect René Nguyễn Khắc Schéou made the circular stairs the design element in 1949. [Photo © 2018 by Alexandre Garel]

 

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]

Vietnamese Modernist Architecture is about Details

Vietnamese modernist architecture is more complex than international modernist architecture because it makes use of both functional and decorative forms in the composition. These elements are architectonic rather than sculptural — they are abstract forms that have a simple or geometric shape. Planters and guard rails are typical elements that are simple, but notice that a couple of brackets are added to help support them off the floor edge. The geometric shapes are merely decorative but are still abstract.

Modernist Factories

Shing Viet Factory in Ho Chi Minh City

Independence from colonialism in the 1950s brought the need for Vietnamese to rebuild the economy to focus on consumer and export goods. Vietnamese companies invested in new factories around Saigon and wanted a new modernist image for their companies. Vietnamese architects responded with Vietnamese modernist designs like this factory in Thủ Đức for Shing Việt. This is not your normal utilitarian warehouse. The walls of the factory are inset behind the outer wall of columns and beams to block the sun from heating it up during the day. This also allowed glass windows to allow daylight in the building. The resulting composition is light and airy — the two words most often associated with Vietnamese modernist design. [photo by Alexandre Garel © 2018]

A building that says too much

Apartment House at 29:7 Nguyễn Cảnh Chân Street, Ho Chi Minh City

Of the 350 projects photographed for our upcoming book, we can only publish around 150 of them. It was difficult to make these choices, so we made them based upon the particular feature or story the project tells about Vietnamese modernist architecture. This particular building at the Nguyễn Cảnh Chân street area of District One in Ho Chi Minh City says too much — there is double-wall construction, brise-soleil sun-blocking elements, and added elements in the composition such as the roof trellis that make it a complex design while still holding integrity. But Vietnamese modernist architecture, on the whole, is so good that we just didn’t have room for this beauty. [Photo by Alexandre Garel © 2018].

An ordinary apartment house

Apartment house at 5 Cao Thắng Street in Ho Chi Minh City

What is the difference between global modernism and Vietnamese modernism? This building is an ordinary apartment house. There are many apartment buildings like this one at 5 Cao Thắng Street in District Three in Ho Chi Minh City. In western countries, an ordinary apartment house would most likely be minimalist and utilitarian. There would be the same windows of the same size, but there would be no added sunscreens or other added elements like there are here in Vietnam. It would just be a plain box building. As this building shows, Vietnamese modernist architecture adds many elements that give the building human scale, like the outer corridor wrapping around the front facade, or the structure of sun screening elements on the side facade. These added elements make Vietnamese modernist buildings much richer in appearance.

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.

An expressive Saigon villa

Villa at 140 Nguyễn Văn Trỗi Street in Ho Chi Minh City

There is a lot going on in the 1960s design of this villa by Tô Công Văn. He had an expressive style, as shown in this villa along the main street from the airport to downtown Ho Chi Minh City, located in the Phú Nhuận District. Aficionados of American mid-century modern architecture of southern California have called this style “googie style”, and to some degree, it fits with boomerang symbols on the wall and the parabolic window opening on the second-floor facade. This photograph was taken 10 years ago. The added awnings and junk around the house are good because that mean the building is being well-used and isn’t in as much danger of being demolished. Today the house is cleaned up, which is not a good sign.

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.

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.