Vietnamese building featured on CNN
Saturday, January 17, 2015, 13:12 GMT+7
“The Chapel” building, which won the “Building of the Year” award at the 2014 World Architecture Festival in Singapore last October, has recently been featured in an episode of CNN’s ‘Ones to Watch’ program.
CNN Ones to Watch shines a spotlight on the up-and-coming creative talents set to be the next big names in culture and the arts.
In the episode titled “Vietnam's 'World Building of the Year,” the program broadcast on CNN’s website on January 15 showcased the Vietnamese architecture, which is described as “a small, colorful building on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City.”
The building is introduced as a community building located in Binh Chanh District with flexible functions, including for weddings, conferences, meetings, family parties, and, the most popular of all, a coffee shop.
Designed by Vietnamese a21 Studio, the 140-square-meter building has multicolor curtains that create a vivid seven-colored rainbow inside the house.
The structure has steel pillars shaped as a tree to support its roof; and the restroom and the kitchen are arranged in the harmony of a triangle.
Toan Nghiem, architect at a21 Studio, said in the episode that the building was designed with the aim of creating a calm feeling for people.
“When we won, we believed that our small building and small team could still create a deeply meaningful project, and still get the recognition of the world,” Toan said in the video.
“We have a lot of books about Western architecture,” he added. “But we found that the best thing is to explore traditional architecture and to learn more about local materials and the local environment.”
“That’s the good way to make our building unique,” he concluded.
Besides the 'World Building of the Year” award, “The Chapel” was also the winner of the Small Project of the Year, Landscape of the Year and Future Project of the Year awards at the 2014 World Architecture Festival.
Earlier this month, CNN’s ‘Ones to Watch’ also featured Vietnamese architect Vo Trong Nghia, who has received numerous international awards for his environmentally-friendly designs.
