Vo Trong Nghia Architects

Ola,

For quite some time, I have been coming across work by Vo Trong Nghia Architects in Viet-Nam.  Each time I see one of their projects, the first word that comes to mind is the word - ORGANIC.

EXTERIOR SON LA RESTAURANT

Recently, I came across an article on Vo Trong Nghia Archchitect's Son La Restaurant.

The restaurant is located 7 hours away from Hanoi.  The architects wanted to design a building which could adapt to the tropical monsoon climate - a wet season that is hot with high humidity and strong rains and a more temperate but still hot dry season.

DINING HALL SON LA RESTAURANT

The restaurant is made up of several separate buildings and an open-air dining hall.  A local bamboo - luong - can grow to a height of 8m (8.75yds) and was used to create 'A Bamboo Forest'.

PROTOTYPE - LOW INCOME HOUSING MEKONG RIVER DELTA

The above photo is a prototype for low-income housing in the Mekong River Delta designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects. In 2012, a pair of these houses were built for a total of $4,800. The lightweight steel frame with roof-truss beams, translucent polycarbonate wall panels  and bamboo louvers on the inside were easy to assemble and all materials are readily available in Viet-Nam.

INTERIOR - LOW INCOME HOUSING MEKONG RIVER DELTA

The first project I saw by Vo Trong Nghia Architects was the dwelling - STACKING GREEN.

STACKING GREEN

This house was designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects taking into account the increasing density in Ho Chi Minh City.  This house is 13-foot wide private house with cantilevered planters on the front and back.

DINING AREA - STACKING GREEN

A pair of skylights and light wells give the reinforced concrete structure the feeling of a traditional courtyard house, while tightly stacked courses of granite add texture to the interior spaces.

STAIRWELL - STACKING GREEN

I am enamored with the way Vo Trong Nghia Architects are able to connect each structure they design with nature.  Both the Son La Restaurant and the Low Income Housing Prototype use bamboo, a natural renewable material.  In the house, Stacking Green, they have incorporated nature into their design by creating cantilevered planters on the front and back of the house.

In all of their designs, not only do they incorporate nature, but there is always space.  This use of space is a natural way to cool the interior of the structures as well as creating a sense of calm.

My dream is to work with Vo Trong Nghia Architects either during or after I obtain my degree in Interior Design.

How GREAT would that be!!!!

- Eduardo

Ross Lovegrove designs first wooden chair to mark Bernhardt Design's 125th Anniversary

Olá!
Recently, I came across an article on DEZEEN.COM entitled Ross Lovegrove Designs first wooden chair to mark Bernhardt's 125 Anniversary.

To celebrate Bernhardt Design's 125 Anniversary, the company commissioned designers - 
Ross Lovegrove, Noé Duchaufour-Lawrence and Jephson Robb to create new furniture pieces for the brand.

These designs were to "honor the company's heritage of fine wood-working and upholstery craftsmanship".  The designers were asked redesign a piece of furniture to show their interpretation of American design.

ANNE CHAIR BY ROSS LOVEGROVE

Ross Lovegrove based his design on a typical courthouse chair.  The chair's arms arc around the sitter to form a continuous curved backrest, while its legs splay outward towards the floor.

"These chairs were such a visible part of the American landscape because of their very powerful presence," said Lovegrove. "Using this historical reference, I wanted to create a chair that is contemporary and a reflection of my design vocabulary."

The chair is named after Anne Harper Berhnardt, one of the company's founders.

"As in all my work, the Anne chair is about sculpting a material: creating something that has a human dimension and looks interesting from any view," Lovegrove said.

HARPER CHAIR BY NOE DUCHAUFOUR-LAWRENCE

The chair designed by Paris-based designer, Noé Buchaufour-Lawrence, is based on the Windsor chair, which is not an American design.  Noé Buchaufour-Lawrence chose this chair because he saw this chair on the verandas of houses in Hollywood films.

"In the collective French memory, one vision of America is the view of a rocking chair sitting on an open porch," Duchaufour-Lawrance said. "It might be influenced by the movies, but the picture of a man sitting in a rocking chair on a front porch with his feet up on the balustrade, is quintessentially American."

Noé Buchaufour-Lawrence deconstructed the Windsor chair and rearranged the components, so the spindly elements in the back become struts that span between the top and bottom of the curved frame. The leather-upholstered seat is supported by four pieces of timber that extend seamlessly from the outer frame.

ALEX SOFA BY JEPHSON ROBB

Scottish designer Jephson Robb used the Chesterfield sofa as his starting point for the Alex sofa as Americans were credited with popularising its name.

"When I was growing up, the first piece of furniture that actually made an impression on me was a Chesterfield sofa," said Jephson Robb. "I was fascinated by all the buttons, and amazed that my head and feet didn't touch the arms when lying down. It seemed larger than life to me."

To update the design, Robb removed all but five of the buttons traditionally used all over the couch and used a horizontal strip along the back to tuft the fabric.

"The biggest design challenge for me was how to communicate quality and comfort without the repetition of buttons and tufting," Robb said. "I decided to go with a single uninterrupted belt that creates one continuous tuft as it traces the interior."

While taking my Materials Course, I had to source furniture as one of my exams.  I came across BERNHARDT and immediately fell in love with their furniture.

I am looking forward to incorporating their furniture into my future projects.

- Eddy