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