Download - Vietnamese Modernist Houses
Modernist Architecture in Vietnam
A long local evolution of modernist design of houses
Mel Schenck 22 July 2008
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• In the standard narrow Vietnamese city townhouse, the house is all front elevation.
• There is little opportunity to add spatial variation -- the design opportunity is the front facade.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 2
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• These houses are long and narrow. Since they usually abut houses on each side and rear, there are no windows on three sides.
• The only other design opportunities are the roof tops and the interior.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 3
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• In southern Vietnam, Vietnamese architects like to experiment with materials, colors, textures, lines, patterns, and forms.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 4
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• The Vietnamese architects have an innate sense of graphic design
• They design very abstract compositions
• Some abstract compositions complement the interior needs, like with this house.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 5
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Some house facades are a little too graphic.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 6
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Some Vietnamese architects manage to add spatial variety to the otherwise flat facade.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 7
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Other architects managed to provide some form by setting back blocks from the street.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 8
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Other designs provide a pattern on the flat facade.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 9
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Sometimes it just doesn’t work well, but the experiment in itself is interesting, since this one looks a bit like my house in San Francisco.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 10
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Not all southern Vietnamese houses are modernist, although a much higher percentage are than in western countries.
• There are also the usual historicist monstrosities.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 11
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• There is a long history of modernist architecture for houses in Vietnam
• This photo was taken in 1972 of a modernist house in Saigon, probably built in the 60s.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 12
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• This photo taken in 1972 shows the typical Saigon townhouse block.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 13
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Also taken in 1972, this photo illustrates the attention to detail that contributes to the long evolution of modernist house design in Vietnam.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 14
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• This old HCMC house, probably built in the 70s or 80s, exemplifies the stylistic elements of that period -- fine detail and filigree.
• Modernist houses of this period used an exposed aggregate in the plaster surfaces for texture.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 15
Vietnamese Modernist Houses• This old house in HCMC is perhaps
a little overdone, but displays imaginative choices.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 16
Vietnamese Modernist Houses• Meanwhile in the Mekong Delta,
designers evolved this colorful patterned modernist style.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 17
Vietnamese Modernist Houses• This Mekong Delta house exhibits a
less colorful but patterned variation of the delta modernist style
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 18
Vietnamese Modernist Houses• This Mekong Delta house in My
Tho is an urban variation of the preceding country houses, with Art Deco touches.Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 19
In central Vietnam, the country houses are simpler in form but more colorful and patterned.
Vietnamese Modernist HousesMel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 20
Vietnamese Modernist Houses• These urban houses in Quy Nhơn
are not as colorful, but display interesting modernist details.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 21
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
• Design is about making choices -- choices about materials, textures, colors, lines, patterns, form.
• This is a very simple house, but complex choices were made about each design element that kept this design simple and well-integrated.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 22
Vietnamese Modernist Houses• It is difficult to say why these
decisions were made, and by whom, but the result is very intelligent.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 23
Vietnamese Modernist Houses
•Sometimes the choices made are very artistic.
Mel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 24
The choices become more difficult as the scale increases to larger buildings.
Vietnamese Modernist HousesMel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 25
Vietnamese architects are now extending their unique use of modernist architecture to larger buildings.
Vietnamese Modernist HousesMel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 26
But modernist architecture in Vietnam began with houses, and Vietnamese architects have built a strong foundation.
Vietnamese Modernist HousesMel Schenck -- 22 July 2008 -- page 27