More sustainable designs in Vietnam

IN the past, Vietnam's property market offered mainly shop houses in the urban centres. Today, new products are gradually coming into the market and Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia hopes to introduce more sustainable designs into the country.

Vo, 37, studied architecture at the University of Tokyo and Nagoya Institute of Technology. He returned to Vietnam to start his own company in 2006.

VoTrongNghia Co Ltd creates energy-saving architecture through the use of environmentally-friendly designs and materials such as bamboo. Vo has won several awards for his designs, including at the World Architecture Festival in 2012 for his Binh Duong School and Stacking Green House as well as the Bamboo Wing in Vinh Phuc in 2011.

Vo believes sustainable designs are imperative in this day and age. "We now have more than seven billion people in the world. I just don't know how we can live in this world and not destroy the natural ecosystem."

Architects should incorporate green features into each design, he says. This drive stems from his concern about the consumption of energy that is heavily impacting the planet.

"The energy problem and climate change can be easily felt because even in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, there are more floods occurring these days due to the rising sea level and not just due to heavy rainfall. This is a grave issue as the Mekong Delta is one of the major suppliers of rice to the world."

Vo's first sustainable design project was the Wind and Water Café in Binh Duong province, north of Ho Chi Minh City. The café is a 30ft high sustainable bamboo building that replicates French and African-style villas.

The bamboo frame allows sunlight to stream in while keeping the interior cool. Most of the structure is built from local materials. "We don't use air-conditioning there," he says. "We use bamboo and the flow of air outside the café to cool its interior."

So far, Vo has designed 22 projects with sustainable features, from cafés to universities, and done landscaping for some ecotourism developments. His projects include the Pou Chen Kindergarten in Dong Nai province, the Ha House in District 2 of Ho Chi Minh City, the Trung Nguyen Coffee Culture Centre in Hanoi and a family mansion in Quang Minh.

"Our city is basically an electric city," Vo explains. "The government is trying to promote greener living but there's still a lot more to be done. There is a huge possibility that we can get more comfortable with green buildings in the near future.

"Our country is hot and air-conditioning is expensive, so we need an alternative and I believe green and sustainable developments are that alternative."


This story first appeared in The Edge weekly edition of May 27-June 2, 2013.