FARMING KINDERGARTEN (2013): A kindergarten that connects its grounds and rooftop with food

This project is a nursery school for children of workers employed at the adjoining factory.

Vietnam's streets are clogged with motorbikes, and there are almost not places where children can play. In response to this, we designed a garden with safety in mind. Furthermore, we created a spiral path of green to connect the ground level with the rooftop. The children love to run along the spiral path from the garden up to the rooftop, and then back down to the ground level, over and over again as they play.

Here, we placed a vegetable garden along the path leading up to the roof, where the parents of the children, who work at the factory next door, can grow vegetables for their children. As the children play alongside these gardens, they are given chances to learn the value of farming and the relationships between people and nature. In this way, the gardens become a space for both playing and learning.

Two projects to create forests with a multitude of greenery pots

1. FPT UNIVERSITY SAIGON (Under construction)

This is the campus for FPT University Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City, which is currently under construction. This is a large-scale project, covering 2.3 hectares of land where about 5,000 students will study. Using the same approach towards addressing urban issues, this school is designed to be a greenery-filled forest.

The layout involves a series of large pots stacked upon one another, with large trees planted in each of them.

Furthermore, the university itself is being planned as an activity space. It will be a space for enjoying sports or walks, and the central garden can be used for studying as well.

2. FPT UNIVERSITY HANOI (2015)

Here is a campus we built for the aforementioned FPT University in Hanoi.

We used tree-pot blocks as in the first home I showed you, stacked in a lattice formation to naturally create the facade of the building. While it may look complex at first glance, it is really a simple building system. Since its construction, the greenery has taken over the building, and it gives quite a different impression now.

Creating a giant building using Asia's bamboo structures

Wind and Water Bar (2008)

Now, I would like to introduce some of our projects that make use of bamboo.

This project is titled "Wind and Water Bar". This dome building, 15 meters in diameter and 10 meters in height, is set in the middle of a body of water. It was built to be used as a bar, but you can also appreciate it as a work of art. It is made entirely of bamboo, down to the lamps and chairs.

BAMBOO WING (2009)

After we made the aforementioned Wind and Water Bar, we made BAMBOO WING, a large wing-shaped cantilever (an overhanging structure anchored on one side), which was also made entirely of bamboo. While this space is regularly used as a resort restaurant, is has also been used for fashion shows, performances, meetings, and other events. This project served as research in to the possibilities of bamboo structures, and we were able to realize a 12-meter bamboo wing enclosure without supporting pillars.

Its placement in the middle of a man-made pond makes the structure seem as if it were floating. There is no winter weather where this building is, so it doesn't get cold in the partially-outdoor space created by the broad eaves of wing. The shape of the roof is designed so as to circulate cool breezes passing over the pond through the structure. The building is surrounded by greenery, and as air can pass between the gaps among the bamboo, it makes for an airy and comfortable space.

SONLA RESTAURANT (2014)

This is a restaurant we built in Sonla, a scenic region in northern Vietnam. It is the first part of a hotel complex scheduled to be built there. It is located deep in the mountains, about a 7-hour drive from Hanoi, in a lush, natural region populated by small tribes with their own unique cultures. This building used local bamboo and stone resources. Our usual supplies of bamboo are sourced from the south, and it would have been cost-prohibitive to bring those materials all the way to this site, so that is why we procured raw materials - stone and bamboo - from the surrounding region. In this project (unlike in other projects that used bamboo), the building uses straight bamboo pieces, without any being curved or bent. We had local craftsmen cut rock taken from around the region for us.

In the detailing, we avoided using steel as much as possible. The bamboo pieces are fastened together using nails and rope made from bamboo, with steel used only for securing the bamboo beams to the walls. Concrete is poured into the hollow bamboo to reinforce it.

I think this detail is close to Japan's wood building methods. The properties of this variety of bamboo means they cannot be used for particularly long pillar or beam spans, and a single piece cannot bear much weight. This means we had to bundle several pieces of bamboo together to use it, and as you can see the number of pieces in each pillar and beam became greater than usual. However, we were able to make the most of this in creating a unique interior that resembles a bamboo forest.

DIAMOND ISLAND COMMUNITY CENTER (2015)

Here is the last project to introduce for this presentation. This was built as a community center for housing development close to the center of Ho Chi Minh City. The project consists of two large domes surrounded by 6 smaller domes.

They are surrounded by lotus ponds. The dome's structures are all bamboo, and they resemble enlarged bird cages.

The larger domes, at 25 meters in diameter, are open all along the bottom, with a single hole at the apex of each. When there is warm air inside, it rises, pulling in air at the bottom opening from the surroundings and up to the top, where it escapes. This good airflow makes for a comfortable space to be in.

Economic development is rapidly transforming Vietnam's cities. I have been creating buildings that try to enrich peoples' lives by restoring greenery lost to urbanization and by making the most of local resources such as bamboo and stone. Some of Vietnam's greatest assets are its greenery and locally-sourced, beautiful natural materials that can be found growing in abundance in its tropical climate. By using these resources to create buildings that link humans with nature, I want to provide the people of Vietnam with something richer than simple economic growth.

Thank you very much for your time.

Editor: Satoko Shibahara
Plates: Courtesy of the Author