The FuturArc InterviewShigeru Ban, Japan & Vo Trong Nghia, VietnamBy Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle & Le Vu Cuong

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Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. © Didier Boy de Latour

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In this issue FuturArc juxtaposes a pair of interviews—recorded separately by our correspondents in Paris and Ho Chi Minh City—with two important voices of Asian architecture: Shigeru Ban and Vo Trong Nghia. The former is global-trotting luminary of the design world; the latter is fast becoming the face of emerging architecture in Vietnam. Each, in his way, is examining materiality in contemporary architecture—paper tubes and bamboo—reflecting on shades of sustainability and probing what it means to be ethical through design. Featured alongside these interviews are the new Centre Pompidou-Metz in Metz, France and the Wind and Water Bar, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Shigeru Ban, Japan In conversation with Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle in Paris, France

Shigeru Ban is best known for his paper tube structures, where cardboard tubes—a recyclable, reusable, replaceable, biodegradable, non-toxic, easy to transport and store, low-cost and readily-available material—are a key structural element in his work. Shigeru Ban is credited for having made them an accepted primary construction material, particularly in easy-to-assemble temporary structures for disaster victims in Japan, Turkey, India, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Italy, China and Haiti. Deeply affected by the human catastrophe caused by the Kobe earthquake in 1995, he was struck by the need to work towards the common good and became a forerunner of emergency architecture. His rethinking of material usage and structural systems has given rise to elegant architecture optimised on the technical and economic levels.

Ban studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and at New York’s Cooper Union School of Architecture, under its former dean John Hejduk, in the 1970s and ’80s. He apprenticed with Japanese architect Arata Isozaki before establishing his own studio in 1985 in Tokyo. On the jury of the 2006 Pritzker Architecture Prize, he has received numerous awards including 1997’s “Best Young Architect of the Year” from the Japan Institute of Architecture, the World Architecture Award for his design of the Japan Pavilion at the Hanover Expo 2000, the “Best House in the World” for his Naked House in the 2002 World Architecture Awards and the 2005 Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture.

YM: Describe your design language and approach.

SB: I always try to take advantage of the local context, so it’s important where I’m building and especially making the space correctly inside and outside to make the most comfortable space for anyone. I don’t like to come back to things I’ve already resolved and many of my structures are not meant to be permanent. I’ve always been interested in using material in a new way. I particularly like steel, but paper too can be strong and permanent. We need to get rid of material prejudices.

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1 Building site of the Centre Pompidou-Metz last December 2 & 4 Temporary paper “log” houses built for the victims of the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Units are easy to dismantle, and the materials easily disposed of or recycled 3 Paper-tube-structured temporary classrooms of Hualin Temporary Elementary School (the first school buildings to be rebuilt in the earthquake-stricken area) in Chengdu, China, which was struck by the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008

I believe that the material doesn’t need to be strong to be used to build a strong structure. The strength of the structure has nothing to do with the strength of the material.YM: Describe the process behind the development of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, with its wooden roof structure referencing a traditional Chinese bamboo hat and your signature paper tubes on the auditorium ceiling, and how it takes into account the surrounding landscape and environment.

SB: Usually, we design the building, then we ask the landscape architect to put the trees around the building, but I flipped this method the other way around. So first I asked the landscape architect to design the garden, then I put the roof on top of the landscape because I wanted the landscape floating into the space inside the museum. The roof comes from a Chinese bamboo hat. In 1999, I bought one of these hats in woven bamboo, coated inside with grease paper and supported by a grid of wooden crosspieces. I promised myself that I would one day use it for an architectural form. Since then, I’ve been designing many structures to study this system, and I use this pattern for many projects. The shape of France is a hexagon so that relates to the shape of the roof structure. Two layers of laminated timber from three directions create the curved roof. This roof is finished with a translucent membrane, so this is a very simple but complicated timber structure. Of course, I wanted to use paper tubes somewhere, and they are very good acoustically, accumulating sound and deflecting it in different directions. That’s why I used them for the ceiling of the auditorium.

YM: Your creations incorporate geometric elements with transparent, poetic architecture, and use common materials in new contexts. Can you put the new museum in context with your previous architectural works and theoretical approaches, including your residential projects?

© Shigeru Ban Architects Europe and Jean de Gastines Architectes / Metz Métropole / Centre Pompidou-Metz. Photo by Olivier H. Dancy

Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai

Photo by Li Jun

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SB: The glass shutters can totally open up, connecting the inside with the outside. That’s what I usually do for my houses. My works are all connected. It developed little by little in a different way.

YM: Would you call your residential works luxurious?

SB: Some of the houses are very luxurious, but it also depends on what your definition of luxury is because I never use the so-called luxurious materials. I always use standard materials, but I think a space can be very luxurious without using expensive materials.

YM: How and why did you start using paper tubes?

SB: I’m very interested in using weak materials. I believe that the material doesn’t need to be strong to be used to build a strong structure. The strength of the structure has nothing to do with the strength of the material. We can make a building which withstands an earthquake out of paper, as I did. For the first exhibition I designed, I had a very limited budget so I was looking for an alternative material. Paper tubes had always been surrounding my studio—tracing paper, fax paper, all kinds of paper. We were always wasting paper tubes and I thought that it could be a very good material to replace wood because I knew it was quite strong and very inexpensive. Whatever is around us, even glass, plastic, paper, anything, can be a building structural material. The paper tube is a kind of engineering wood, evolved wood. It’s much cheaper than wood, and I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t use it for structures. It’s available almost everywhere. It’s also very pretty. The good thing about paper tubes is that they are readily available in various thickness and diameters. The weight they can support depends on these two things. Because it’s such a cheap material, nobody wants to spend that much time and energy on low-cost building—not so many people are interested in doing it.

YM: You are known for your paper tube structures used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims, which seem to speak of the responsibility of the architect to the world at large. At the end of the day, what do you hope to achieve through your architecture?

SB: For me, designing a house after a disaster and designing a museum are the same, although one I do on my own without being paid and the other I get a fee. But the main thing is I always get the same kind of satisfaction when people move in. If they’re happy, then I’m happy. For me, the size of the building and the budget have nothing to do with the importance of the project, although this is a national museum so it’s very special. But for me, it’s the same.

YM: What prompts you to provide low-cost disaster-relief structures?

SB: When I started my practice, I was very disappointed that we were mostly working for privileged people, rich people, the government, big corporations. But it was too late to be a doctor or lawyer. So then I thought can I use my own experiences and knowledge for something that people need? That’s why I started working in disaster areas. Even in disaster areas, I want to create beautiful buildings. This is what it means to build a monument for the common people, and this is what I would like to continue doing as an architect.

YM: Tell me about the travelling Nomadic Museum you designed for Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow exhibition, which was assembled from shipping containers and paper tubes and may be easily transported.

SB: The Nomadic Museum was designed to be transported from city to city and country to country. I built this with shipping containers as a wall, and also paper tubes to support the roof. The biggest challenge was how to make the building transportable economically, so I tried to look for a material that I could borrow for a short period of time everywhere in the world. Then I found the shipping container because it is made to international standards. The museum was first designed for the site in New York on the Hudson River. The pier itself is very narrow and 200 metres long, designed to receive the Titanic, which didn’t arrive actually, so it’s a very old wooden pier. Structurally, it’s very weak, so I had to design a very light structure in order to minimise the weight of the building and the number of containers. I created a checkerboard pattern so that I could make the same length of wall using half the number of containers. Also, instead of having just a continuous wall, this checkerboard pattern created light and shadow.

I started developing the paper tube structure in 1986 when people weren’t talking about recycling, ecology and sustainability. I simply don’t want to waste materials, even before this fashion came about.

Even in disaster areas, I want to create beautiful buildings. This is what it means to build a monument for the common people, and this is what I would like to continue doing as an architect.

Paper tube structures are meant to be temporary but as long as people love the building, it can become a permanent building.

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YM: You chose wood for the Centre Pompidou-Metz’s roof structure because it is easily recycled, and the architecture of the museum meets environmental quality and sustainable development criteria. You also use paper tubes for temporary shelters and buildings because they are recyclable, replaceable, produce very little waste and are locally-available. Is creating sustainable and ecological structures important to you?

SB: I don’t know exactly the meaning of sustainability and ecology. It came afterward, after I studied. At that time, no one was talking about ecology and sustainability. I think today this is a concern for everybody. It’s a very, very important thing. But I don’t want to use this as a strategy. I started developing the paper tube structure in 1986 when people weren’t talking about recycling, ecology and sustainability. I simply don’t want to waste materials, even before this fashion came about. I use locally-available materials because they’re cheaper and nicer, not because of the ecological movement.

YM: In your opinion, what is the difference between building permanent and temporary constructions?

SB: For me, there is no difference between a permanent structure and a temporary structure. It’s the same for me. It’s dependent on the function of the project and also whether people love the building or not. The Paper Church built in 1995 after the Kobe earthquake was meant to be temporary, but it was there for over 10 years because it became a monument of the city and people loved it. Paper tube structures are meant to be temporary but as long as people love the building, it can become a permanent building.

YM: Does your innovative material use help to lead you to unique structural solutions?

SB: Yes, it’s really true. People always follow what is popular at the time, unless you create your own structural system or material. I’m only interested in making something different. I have no interest in following a fashion, and when you look at the history of architecture, when somebody develops a new type of structure or material, a new type of architecture emerges. I like to develop my own structural systems and materials to make the work my own. Normally, people try to develop something stronger material-wise or structurally, but even using weak materials, we can make strong, beautiful buildings. This is a very different way of thinking. That’s why I started using paper tubes; it’s a weak material but still we can design something to meet building regulations. This idea and development leads me to my own architectural identity.

YM: Tell me about some of the projects you’re currently working on, like the Metal Shutter House in New York.

SB: That’s under construction, to be completed in two months’ time. And there’s an interesting office building in Zurich, a seven-storey office building, totally made of wood, a timber structure, and also one little fishing village in Sri Lanka. I also have a project in Aquila, Italy. I designed a temporary concert hall after the earthquake.

YM: What advice do you have for the architectural community?

SB: We always have to come back to the origin, also because the world is already thinking about something unusual and fashionable. But these do not last too long. I think it’s much better for architects or a company to have a very strong identity that doesn’t change too much depending on the time. It is important that architecture and design companies keep their tradition. We architects should do only what we really believe makes sense.

Vo Trong Nghia, VietnamIn conversation with Le Vu Cuong in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The Japanese influence on Vo Trong Nghia’s work is unmistakable; a raw sensuality that is the combination of natural materials and connectivity with the Nature. His best known works are in bamboo although he has experimented with other materials of site such as stone and mud. In the over-heated economy of Vietnam, where new buildings are little more than a return on investment, the intricate patterns and naturalistic settings of his works are (like the passive principles he advocates) a breath of fresh air.

Vo Trong Nghia was born in 1976 in Quang Binh; he started architectural training at the Hanoi Architectural University which then continued for some years in Japan. He has won the gold medal at the Asian Architects Association’s ARCASIA Awards in 2007. In 2008 he was recipient of the International Architecture Award (IAA) for his Wind and Water Café in southern Binh Duong Province. In 2009 he took home two prizes at the 2009 International Architecture Awards in Helsinki, Finland and shared the Silver prize at the Global Holcim Awards with his Japanese collaborators with whom he designed for a low-impact, ecologically-friendly university campus in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.

LVC: You were trained as an architect in Japan. How has that affected your work? Is there a Japanese quality to your work that sets you apart?

VTN: I trained as an architect in Japan; the basic architectural knowledge that I learned in this country has more or less influenced what I am doing at present. However I am a Vietnamese, born and grown up in Quang Binh, in the countryside with rice fields, trees, farms, forests and mountains, where rural architecture has not been affected by Vietnamese modern architecture. From this countryside I left for Japan to study architecture. The Japanese are very good at designing with Nature so I felt very comfortable with their approach to architecture.

Recently two Japanese architects were awarded the Pritzker prize; the number of Japanese awarded is probably the highest in the world. This proves that the quality of Japan architecture is very high; it strongly influences the standard and understanding of a high-quality building.

LVC: Is Nature therefore important to your work? What is the relationship between Architecture and Nature?

VTN: Living in harmony with Nature is absolutely important. In order to live in agreement with the Nature— through adverse conditions such as drought, heat and power failures—the building must ensure people are comfortable. It is the most important factor in current architectural trends.

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5 Exterior view of WInd and Water Bar

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Wind is heaven-sent; in Vietnam, wind is plentiful. It would be such a waste if its energy is not used to cool projects.In extreme weather, architecture protects people. But sunlight and wind are also natural ‘materials’ that help me create architecture that is in harmony with Nature. I think of two factors: protecting people from the harsh influences of Nature and finding agreement with Nature.

LVC: How do you begin the design process? What is the sequence?

VTN: I start with the objective of living in agreement with Nature and taking advantage of Nature’s strong points. I take advantage of wind, light, landscape, trees, water surface and other elements of Nature in the place where I plan to create the project, to create the values of stability in terms of materiality and ideology. That is the beginning of design; quite simple.

Some of these values exist in vernacular buildings, such as the ancient town of Hoi An which was designed with Nature, or in places in the world that suffer from extreme weather. People use natural ventilation and materials such as stone to limit the harshness of Nature. My Wind and Water Bar works in Binh Duong Province is an example. In Binh Duong, there is much bamboo and so I used it to reduce transportation energy necessary for materials. In time, this material can also be returned to the land.

There are many advanced techniques of calculating ventilation, solar energy, factors related to climate, microclimate, as well as quality of space in terms of light. To standardise for mass production we aim for units of bamboo, produced industrially to higher quality. The combination of tradition, modern and advanced technology results in a very unique and particular language of architecture.

LVC: How do you ensure that your building delivers comfort, i.e., the right temperature, humidity, and air movement?

VTN: Delivering the right temperature is rather easy. We take advantage of wind energy; natural materials like stone, soil and bamboo are very good insulators. We can also use the cooling capacity of water and trees. Combining all these elements into a microclimate will produce a work with very good temperature inside.

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6 Interior view of Wind and Water Bar 7 Vietnam Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010

Regarding humidity, it is very difficult to control; in some projects we have used a very thick earth wall which is a “breathable” material. It can release humidity when the weather is dry and conversely absorb moisture when the weather is wet. However this can only control part of moisture; it is not as ideal as an air-conditioner.

Wind is heaven-sent; in Vietnam, wind is plentiful. It would be such a waste if its energy is not used to cool projects. I have often used wind energy to cool my works. There has been a lot of software to calculate air flow; however to sense wind is another matter; it needs feeling and emotion. Once mastered, wind can create very strange architecture space; it can generate a very unique design no matter if it is high or low-rise. When I express the language of architecture in that way, it becomes distinguished from ordinary buildings.

LVC: What led you to bamboo as a building material of choice?

VTN: Bamboo is a traditional material that has been widely used in vernacular architecture but there have been no large aperture or large span structures. In the coffee shop in Binh Duong, the bamboo was chosen because it is widely available locally. In areas with many rocks I will design works with stone; in areas with pretty coloured clay I will design with soil. Architecture that is in agreement with Nature uses materials that are locally available. This reduces energy consumption as well as enhances the local value of the works; it includes, of course, techniques and ideas about space and structure.

LVC: What is the life span of bamboo in your buildings? Have you found of way of extending the life of the material?

VTN: Bamboo architecture in Japan has the life span of several hundred years. This suggests that if we treat bamboo properly, in a traditional way combined with modern technology, it can exist alongside other materials such as wood. Soaking bamboo in mud, for instance, can prolong its life to several decades. Boiling bamboo at high pressure is a form of fumigation. The finished product will not be damaged by termite or time.

LVC: What are the challenges facing architects in Vietnam? Is there an emerging trend of Vietnamese identity in new architecture?

VTN: Generally speaking, the world is now flat; it facilitates foreign architects coming to Vietnam to work. It also requires Vietnamese architects to compete with each other and provides them favorable conditions to learn more. Because the world is flat, Vietnamese architects also find it easy to work abroad. For example, if Vietnamese architects are winners in an international competition, they can execute their works abroad. There are however many challenges and difficulties facing Vietnamese architects.

Vietnamese architects are always rediscovering Vietnamese identity through new language and images of architecture. I am not an exception; all of my works and my thesis—researching natural ventilation in Hoi An ancient quarter—have demonstrated this. Learning from traditional architecture and thinking of how to live in agreement with Nature is the most basic thing we should do.

LVC: Yet many new buildings in Vietnam are increasingly reliant on air-conditioning. What is the cause of this shift?

VTN: Air-conditioning is increasingly popular in society. It consumes energy and it does not make people really comfortable. It is not appropriate, for instance, to use air-conditioning in closed glass buildings. The 20th century was the century of living independently of Nature, a process that contributed to climate change. Today we must find ways to go back to Nature, one way or another.

LVC: How do you deal with commercial investors and developers? How do you persuade them to let you do what you do?

VTN: At first, I met some difficulties but later it became easier. I persuaded investors and developers using works that had already been built.

LVC: What projects are you working on at present?

VTN: The Vietnam pavilion at the Shanghai EXPO project is an example of a grand-scale bamboo structure covering thousands of square metres. It has been completed and handed over. In addition, we are now doing numerous works ranging from 500 to 2,000 square metres.

LVC: Do you face the criticism for your work?

VTN: This is very common in architecture. People can praise or criticise my work; this is not a problem. Architecture becomes good if we go the way we think it is right. Many do not like my way of doing architecture but that is their viewpoint. It is each person’s choice. If they like luxurious style and materials such as aluminium and glass, they will not like works made of stone, soil or bamboo. Of course, many people like the works I am doing now. For my part, I am consistent in what I do.

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An igloo, big top or magical lantern—call it what you will but the €70-million Centre Pompidou-Metz is Shigeru Ban’s most monumental work to date. An offshoot of the venerable Parisian institution, it is the first time that France’s riches have been placed in a provincial town, former capital of Austrasia, kingdom of the Franks and Merovingians for 350 years, cradle of the Carolingians and Gregorian chant, and a place where the most beautiful illuminations of Europe were painted during the Middle Ages.

The museum lies on the exact spot where a 25,000-seat Roman amphitheatre stood a couple of thousand years ago, the largest of Roman Gaul in antiquity. Located close to Paris and strategically at the crossroads of Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany, it is set to transform the image of the industrial and inhospitable French garrison city of Metz—once a site of occupations, annexations, wars and catastrophes—into that of a European cultural capital, perhaps echoing what the Guggenheim Museum had done for Bilbao in the 1990s, where culture served as an engine of economic and social growth.

Just as the Centre Pompidou in Paris by Rogers and Piano had shaken up French architectural conventions in 1977 with its irreverent multicoloured pipes, so the unpretentious Centre Pompidou-Metz will likely revolutionise the nation’s architecture with its welcoming façade that invites visitors to take shelter under its protective roof and use of simple, discreet and environmentally-friendly materials in modular exhibition spaces. Three 80-metre long exhibition galleries in the shape of rectangular tubes punctuate the building at different levels, protruding out from underneath the roof with huge panoramic windows, offering views angled towards Metz landmarks like its cathedral, neo-Romanesque train station and Seille Park. These large picture windows allow visitors glimpses of the surroundings that are dotted with medieval houses, Gothic churches and cloisters, 16th-century mansions and inns, and an 18th-century classical theatre, essentially bringing the outdoors inside, along with its years of history and heritage.

The edifice is an exercise in openness, as the retractable windows of the large forum allow interaction with the outside, merging with the surrounding landscaped gardens and sloping forecourt. As such, the interior spaces become an extension of the exterior through the use of these glass façades, which encourage visitors to get close to nature, and the forum’s interiors are visible from the gardens. The 5-acre north garden, planted with flowering cherry trees and grassy folds that collect rainwater from the roof and terrace, features numerous pathways for visitors to stroll around the park. In contrast, the private south garden showcases birch trees and mineral landscaping allowing its use as a terrace in summer. In future, visitors will be able to view artworks not only on the restaurant terrace, which boasts a large balcony overlooking the gardens, but also in the forum, gardens and on the top of the galleries.

Large and airy, strong and light, sober and extravagant, modest and imposing, rustic and refined, the Centre Pompidou-Metz evokes Ban’s taste for the seemingly contradictory. Constructed around a 77-metre high central spire, its twisted wooden roof structure was assembled by weaving six glue-laminated beams into a hexagon in an undulating fashion, with a total of 18 kilometres of massive intersecting beams—a benchmark concept in the construction world as no two beams are identical. One of the most complex built to date, the roof’s hexagonal shape echoes the building’s floor plan. Taking on an organic form, its irregular geometry features a succession of curves and counter-curves, and its overhang, up to 20 metres in some places, protects the façade from the elements.

Resembling the mesh of a traditional Chinese bamboo hat, it is covered with a translucent fibreglass and Teflon membrane, which protects the wooden frame from rain, sun and wind, while letting through 15 percent of the light

Centre Pompidou-Metzby Y-Jean Mun-Desalle

to expose the hexagonal roof structure when the building is lit from inside at night. Not only does this transparent effect creates a vibrant shadow play, but the waterproof material produces a controlled and naturally temperate indoor environment so that artworks are optimally conserved.

Ban creates an intimate relationship between interior and exterior by offering users numerous options, an architecture that adapts to varying seasons and occasions. The new museum demonstrates his fascination with the use of ordinary materials in extraordinary ways and the mobility and transparency of parts, while keeping construction costs low and exploring geometric elements. His contemporary poetic architecture effectively builds a sensory relationship with its surroundings, eliminating boundaries between interior and exterior space, and conveying a sense of well-being and warmth.

Project DataProject Name Centre Pompidou-MetzLocationMetz, Lorraine, FranceTotal Surface Area10,700 m2

Surface Area of Roofing8,000 m2 with 18 km of glue-laminated timber beamsGallery Space5,000 m2

Building HeightHeight of central spire is 77 metresClient/OwnerMetz Métropole; City of Metz; Centre PompidouArchitecture FirmShigeru Ban Architects EuropePrincipal ArchitectsShigeru Ban; Jean de GastinesLandscape ArchitectsAgence Nicolas Michelin & Associés; Paso Doble; Pascal CribierMain ContractorDemathieu & BardMain Roof ContractorHolzbau AmannStructural EngineerArup, LondonImages/PhotosShigeru Ban Architects Europe; Jean de Gastines; Metz Métropole; Centre Pompidou-Metz

8 & 10 Night view of the Centre Pompidou-Metz 9 The restaurant terrace of the Centre Pompidou-Metz

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Made structurally of bamboo, the Wind and Water Bar by Vo Trong Nghia in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, received a commendation in the Structural Design category at the 2009 World Architecture Festival. Located in the Wind and Water Café, also designed by Vo, which won the 2008 International Architecture Awards and second prize in the 2007 International Bamboo Building Design Competition, the bar is a structural bamboo arch system measuring 10 metres in height and 15 metres in length. The main frame is constructed from 48 units of bamboo elements, and the roof covering is made from sheets of leaves which are highly fire resistant. Bamboo, popularly grown in Vietnam, is treated by muddy soaking and smoking out in order to lengthen its service life.

As flooding occurs frequently in many areas in Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta region, with local residents often having to be evacuated from flood-stricken areas, temporary shelters have to be erected swiftly using low-cost materials which could be easily transported. The design and architectural model of the Wind and Water Bar was developed based on such a concept. With the purpose of helping residents in flood-stricken areas rebuild their lives through the construction of temporary houses, schools and commercial establishments such as cafés, bars and resorts, the initial model of the Wind and Water Bar was proposed.

To construct a bamboo structure on such a large scale, a full-scale test model with structural calculation was first performed. Sited on a man-made lake, the bar is naturally ventilated by the wind and cooled by water from the lake. On the top of the roof, a hole with a diameter of 1.5 metres allows hot air from the bar to be expelled. The bar was built by local workers in only three months. By using sustainable materials, local manpower and high-speed construction, the Wind and Water Bar is not only environmentally friendly, it also helps to rejuvenate the local community.

SuSTaiNaBle aSpecTS aNd feaTureS:

• TransferabilityMade from only 48 bamboo units, the model of the Wind and Water Bar fulfils the criteria of low-cost construction, easy adaptation and energy saving (either in the process of construction, operation or waste recycling). Bamboo, as a construction material, is easy to assemble and reutilise due to its unitisation, and therefore can be widely used. The model of the Wind and Water Bar can be easily replicated and with flooding becoming more severe in some areas, it can be adopted to create prefabricated houses, classrooms, evacuation shelters, etc., for flood-stricken areas, as well as cafés, bars and resorts—commercial establishments which could provide a source of livelihood for the community and help to boost the economy.

• SocialequityLow-cost investment and rapid assembly provide the low income classes with the opportunity of rebuilding as well as quick relief in emergency situations at disaster sites. Moreover, by employing low-tech construction and relying on local manpower, this creates extra work for farmers, enabling them to increase their incomes. In addition, the Wind and Water Bar provides a cultural communion space for the community to enjoy.

• EnergyconservationThe bar is constructed using bamboo, a natural local material, which is easy to find and which grows rapidly, helping to reduce the use of energy in construction from concrete production, steel refinement, etc. In addition, construction waste is minimised. As the bar is naturally ventilated and cooled, this also cuts down on the energy consumption from the use of air-conditioning. While the outdoor temperature of southern Vietnam is constantly high throughout a year, going up to 35 degrees Celsius, the

Wind and Water Barby Le Vu Cuong and Lee Bee Luen

interior environment is kept comfortable at approximately 25 degrees Celsius.

•EconomicThe cost of one model is kept minimal by using local materials such as bamboo (USD1/1 unit) and low-cost labour (USD4.5/person/day). As it can be easily and quickly assembled, this also helps to reduce the use of labour and shorten construction time. In addition, as the bar relies on natural ventilation, operating and maintenance costs are reduced.

•ContextualityMade entirely of bamboo except for its base, the bar is in harmony with the surrounding residential area and becomes a highlight of the landscape. Modern but traditional at the same time, the building evokes feelings of luxury and provides guests with a sense of nature all at once.

Project DataProject NameWind and Water BarLocationThu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, VietnamCompletionJanuary 2008Site Area550 m2 (Bar + Lake)Gross Floor Area270 m2

Number of RoomsNABuilding Height10 metresClient/OwnerVo Trong NghiaArchitecture FirmVo Trong Nghia Co., LtdPrincipal ArchitectVo Trong NghiaMain ContractorVo Trong NghiaMechanical & Electrical EngineerVo Trong Nghia Co., LtdCivil & Structural EngineerVo Trong Nghia Co., LtdImages/Photos Vo Trong Nghia

11 Exterior view of the Wind and Water Bar 12 Structural diagram 13 Interior view of the Wind and Water Bar 14 Bamboo structure

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