Southern Vietnam has more modernist architecture than any other place. Modernism flourished there beginning in the 1940s and over half the houses in Ho Chi Minh City employ a modernist design. Vietnamese modernist houses make unique use of lines, colors, textures and patterns. This distinct style has evolved as architects experiment with simple, graphic compositions and intellectual approaches to balancing function and aesthetics. The abundance of modernist houses in southern Vietnam is uncommon elsewhere and reflects the region's strong design culture.

1. Southern Viet Nam is the leading location
for modernist architecture of houses in the world
Mel Schenck
updated May 2015

2. What is modernism?
• A break from
traditional historical
styles, a break from
the past
• Developed as a result
of the technologies
available from the
industrial age (steel
and sheet glass)
• Rationality
1851, Crystal Palace, London, by Paxton

3. What is modernism?
• “Form follows
function”
• Artists and craftsmen
together work with
industry — unify art,
craft, and technology
• Art meets the needs of
society
1910, Robie House, Chicago, by Frank Lloyd
Wright

4. What is modernism?
• Simplification of form
• Absence of
unnecessary applied
decoration
• Flat or single-sloped
roofs
1927, Rusikov Club, Moscow, by Melnikov
Russian Constructivism

5. What is modernism?
• Expression of
structure
• Machine aesthetic
— “kit of parts”
• Use of industrially-
produced materials,
mass production
1919, Bauhaus, Germany, by
Walter Gropius

6. What is modernism?
• An architecture
adapted to the new
world of machines,
radios, and cars
• Abstract use of lines,
shapes, forms,
patterns, textures
• Intellectual ideas
rather than formal
rules 1935, Glaspaleis, Netherlands, by Fritz Puetz

7. Famous Modernist Houses -- Modernism is timeless
1931, Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret,
Villa Savoye, France1924, Rietveld Schroder House, Gerrit Rietveld,
Netherlands

8. Famous Modernist Houses -- Modernism is timeless
1951, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Farnsworth
House, USA
1929, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona
Pavilion, Spain

9. Famous Modernist Houses -- Modernism is timeless
1949, Phillip Johnson, Glass House, USA1928, Richard Neutra, Lovell House, USA

10. • While there are many
modernist public and
commercial buildings
around the world,
modernist houses are few
in number
• Architects in western
countries concentrate on
larger projects.
• People are conservative in
their choice of design for
their houses
What about modernist
houses today?

11. Houses are utilitarian
in most places
• After 1945, America had a
boom time in building
housing cheaply and
quickly -- utilitarian houses
• Large housing tracts like
Levittown dominate the
suburbs of American cities
• The houses were simple
and small for new families

12. Houses are utilitarian
in most places
• Americans and most
people around the world
like conservative historical
styles
• Houses are usually the
same design in any area
• While houses continue to
be constructed on site,
materials and products are
mass-produced.

13. Exceptions
• Miami, Florida has a
good collection of
historical Art Deco
houses
• But this is reflected
only in large
apartment buildings

14. Exceptions
• Mexico City has a
good but limited
collection of
modernist houses
• Mexican modernism
is characterized by a
strong use of color

15. Exceptions
• San Francisco is
beginning to attract
modernist designs

16. San Francisco
These are typical street scenes in San Francisco -- there are very few modernist houses
seen. The tastes of Americans are very conservative. Houses look modern, but they are not
modernist.

17. Bangkok
These are typical street scenes in Bangkok-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

18. Kuala Lumpur
These are typical street scenes in Kuala Lumpur-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

19. Phnom Penh
These are typical street scenes in Cambodia-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

20. Singapore
These are typical street scenes in Singapore-- there are very few modernist houses seen.

21. The issue is quantity of modernist houses
• There are always talented modernist architects in any
location
• The number and quality of clients for modernist houses
is very limited in most places
• A greater number of modernist houses is found in
places where there is a higher degree of design sense
in the society
There are far more modernist houses in southern
Viet Nam than in any other place I have been

22. You can walk down any street in southern Viet
Nam and find many modernist houses
In Ho Chi Minh City, over half of the houses are modernist
design of varying quality

23. The towns and villages in the southern provinces
all have interesting modernist houses
My Tho Quy Nhon
The northern Viet Nam provinces have a much lower
percentage of modernist houses......why?

24. I was surprised to find such a high number of
modernist buildings when I lived here in 1972
Nguyen Trai Street, District 1

25. Modernist buildings in Saigon 1972

26. Modernist buildings in Saigon 1972

27. Why has modernism flourished in southern Viet
Nam for over 70 or 80 years?

28. Modernism has evolved as a distinctly Vietnamese
style here in southern Viet Nam

29. Modernism has evolved as a distinctly Vietnamese
style here in southern Viet Nam
I have not seen modernist architecture like this anywhere
else in the world

30. Vietnamese modernist architecture makes a much
greater use of lines, colors, textures, and patterns

31. Vietnamese modernist architecture makes a much
greater use of lines, colors, textures, and patterns

33. • Design is about making
choices -- choices about
materials, textures, colors,
lines, patterns, form.
• Modernism means
intellectual choices
• This is a very simple
house, but complex
choices were made about
each design element that
kept this design simple
and well-integrated.
Vietnamese
modernist houses

34. • 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.
Vietnamese
modernist houses

35. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Some house facades
are a little too graphic.

36. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Some Vietnamese
architects manage to
add spatial variety to
the otherwise flat
facade.

37. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Other architects
manage to provide
some form by setting
back blocks from the
street.

38. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Other designs provide
a subtle pattern on
the flat facade.

39. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Vietnamese architects
like to experiment with
materials and
composition

40. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Vietnamese architects
often use very simple
compositions with
subtle variations that
provide great interest

41. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Vietnamese architects
use a very intellectual
approach to
composition that is
still rooted in
rationality

42. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Design is an
intellectual process of
balancing rational
needs with abstract
composition

43. • While the International
Style is not usually
applied to houses,
this house is a
masterpiece of
international high-tech
style

44. Vietnamese
modernist houses
• Some Vietnamese
architects add an
artistic element to the
composition

45. What style comes
after modernism?
• Some Vietnamese
architects are
exploring styles
beyond modernism

46. This is the vernacular housing in southern Viet Nam
Vietnamese people have developed these shop houses for
over 80 years and continue to refine the style