Southern Viet Nam is the leading location for modernist architecture of houses in the world

Mel Schenckupdated May 2015

What is modernism?

• A break from traditional historical styles, a break from the past

• Developed as a result of the technologies available from the industrial age (steel and sheet glass)

• Rationality

1851, Crystal Palace, London, by Paxton

What is modernism?

• “Form follows function”

• Artists and craftsmen together work with industry — unify art, craft, and technology

• Art meets the needs of society

1910, Robie House, Chicago, by Frank Lloyd Wright

What is modernism?

• Simplification of form

• Absence of unnecessary applied decoration

• Flat or single-sloped roofs

1927, Rusikov Club, Moscow, by Melnikov Russian Constructivism

What is modernism?

• Expression of structure

• Machine aesthetic — “kit of parts”

• Use of industrially-produced materials, mass production

1919, Bauhaus, Germany, by Walter Gropius

What is modernism?

• An architecture adapted to the new world of machines, radios, and cars

• Abstract use of lines, shapes, forms, patterns, textures

• Intellectual ideas rather than formal rules 1935, Glaspaleis, Netherlands, by Fritz Puetz

Famous Modernist Houses -- Modernism is timeless

1931, Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret, Villa Savoye, France1924, Rietveld Schroder House, Gerrit Rietveld,

Netherlands

Famous Modernist Houses -- Modernism is timeless

1951, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Farnsworth House, USA

1929, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion, Spain

Famous Modernist Houses -- Modernism is timeless

1949, Phillip Johnson, Glass House, USA1928, Richard Neutra, Lovell House, USA

• While there are many modernist public and commercial buildings around the world, modernist houses are few in number

• Architects in western countries concentrate on larger projects.

• People are conservative in their choice of design for their houses

What about modernist houses today?

Houses are utilitarian in most places

• After 1945, America had a boom time in building housing cheaply and quickly -- utilitarian houses

• Large housing tracts like Levittown dominate the suburbs of American cities

• The houses were simple and small for new families

Houses are utilitarian in most places

• Americans and most people around the world like conservative historical styles

• Houses are usually the same design in any area

• While houses continue to be constructed on site, materials and products are mass-produced.

Exceptions

• Miami, Florida has a good collection of historical Art Deco houses

• But this is reflected only in large apartment buildings

Exceptions

• Mexico City has a good but limited collection of modernist houses

• Mexican modernism is characterized by a strong use of color

Exceptions

• San Francisco is beginning to attract modernist designs

San Francisco

These are typical street scenes in San Francisco -- there are very few modernist houses seen. The tastes of Americans are very conservative. Houses look modern, but they are not

modernist.

Bangkok

These are typical street scenes in Bangkok-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

Kuala Lumpur

These are typical street scenes in Kuala Lumpur-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

Phnom Penh

These are typical street scenes in Cambodia-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

Singapore

These are typical street scenes in Singapore-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

The issue is quantity of modernist houses

• There are always talented modernist architects in any location

• The number and quality of clients for modernist houses is very limited in most places

• A greater number of modernist houses is found in places where there is a higher degree of design sense in the society

There are far more modernist houses in southern Viet Nam than in any other place I have been

You can walk down any street in southern Viet Nam and find many modernist houses

In Ho Chi Minh City, over half of the houses are modernist design of varying quality

The towns and villages in the southern provinces all have interesting modernist houses

My Tho Quy Nhon

The northern Viet Nam provinces have a much lower percentage of modernist houses......why?

I was surprised to find such a high number of modernist buildings when I lived here in 1972

Nguyen Trai Street, District 1

Modernist buildings in Saigon 1972

Modernist buildings in Saigon 1972

Why has modernism flourished in southern Viet Nam for over 70 or 80 years?

Modernism has evolved as a distinctly Vietnamese style here in southern Viet Nam

Modernism has evolved as a distinctly Vietnamese style here in southern Viet Nam

I have not seen modernist architecture like this anywhere else in the world

Vietnamese modernist architecture makes a much greater use of lines, colors, textures, and patterns

Vietnamese modernist architecture makes a much greater use of lines, colors, textures, and patterns

• Design is about making choices -- choices about materials, textures, colors, lines, patterns, form.

• Modernism means intellectual choices

• This is a very simple house, but complex choices were made about each design element that kept this design simple and well-integrated.

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.

Vietnamese modernist houses

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Some house facades are a little too graphic.

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Some Vietnamese architects manage to add spatial variety to the otherwise flat facade.

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Other architects manage to provide some form by setting back blocks from the street.

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Other designs provide a subtle pattern on the flat facade.

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Vietnamese architects like to experiment with materials and composition

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Vietnamese architects often use very simple compositions with subtle variations that provide great interest

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Vietnamese architects use a very intellectual approach to composition that is still rooted in rationality

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Design is an intellectual process of balancing rational needs with abstract composition

• While the International Style is not usually applied to houses, this house is a masterpiece of international high-tech style

Vietnamese modernist houses

• Some Vietnamese architects add an artistic element to the composition

What style comes after modernism?

• Some Vietnamese architects are exploring styles beyond modernism

This is the vernacular housing in southern Viet Nam

Vietnamese people have developed these shop houses for over 80 years and continue to refine the style