VN designs shortlisted for World Architecture Festival

VTN Architects Head Office, or Urban Farming Office, a design shortlisted at the World Architecture Festival.

The organisers have announced 536 shortlisted projects from 81 countries and territories in the world.

The event will take place from November 28-30 at the Beurs van Berlage Conference Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The annual awards are considered the Oscars of the architecture world.

VTN Architects run by famed designer Vo Trong Nghia has five works on the shortlist, while Nanoco Head Office and VTN Head Office in HCM City are also listed.

Nanoco Head Office is a ten-storey glass tower that will house the headquarters and flagship showroom for electrical corporation Fortune Electric. Known for their green roofscapes, VTN’s design introduces a new element with a glass block facade that will allow the building to turn into a neighbourhood beacon in the evenings.

VTN Head Office will cover 300sq.m and feature plants and glass. Dubbed the Urban Farming Office, the building will offer a green look to the city and host safe vegetable farming.

Chicland Hotel in Da Nang and Sheraton Phu Quoc in Kien Giang Province are also named.

Chicland Hotel and its 21 floors will be covered like a vertical garden looking over My Khe Beach.

Sheraton Phu Quoc is designed in harmony with the natural landscape. The main building is a 6-storey hotel with a bamboo administration and reception area.

Nanoco Head Office is a ten-storey tower that will house the headquarters and flagship showroom for electrical corporation Fortune Electric.

The Bamboo Stalactite project in Venice has also captured attention.

The sculpture is made of 11 softly cut triangular columns forming an impressive bamboo structure, which serves as a rest area. Each of the columns consists of pillars and arches in a hyperbolic form. The majority of the structure was made in Vietnam before being carried to Venice for completion. It took eight workers 25 days in May to complete the structure under the guidance of Vietnamese and Italian architects.

The work is serving as an outdoor sculpture at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs until November 25.

Nghia has received numerous international prizes and honours, including the World Architecture Festival Award, the ARCASIA award, the WAN 21 for 21 Award, and the FuturArc Green Leadership Award, among others. In 2012, he was named Architect of the Year in Vietnam.