Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - VTN Architects run by one of Vietnam’s leading designersVo Trong Nghia has won three Green Good Design 2019 awards from the EuropeanCentre for Architecture, Art Design and Urban Studies and The ChicagoAthenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.

The designs by the company include Phan Ke Binh Housebuilt in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016, Nocenco Café in the central city of Vinh in2017, and Bamboo Stalactite Pavilion in Venice, Italy in 2017.

According to the organisers, this is the 11thyear the institutions had developed this very specialised edition of theoriginal Good Design programme, which was founded in Chicago in 1950 andis the oldest and most important awards programme in the world.

The awards identify and emphasise the world’smost important examples of sustainable design and to develop a public awarenessprogramme about which global companies are doing the best ecological andsustainable design for the environment.

For 2019 awards, the organisers receivedhundreds of submissions from around the world.

“Members of the European Center’s InternationalAdvisory Committee - worldwide leaders in the design industry - served as thejury and selected over 100 new products, programmes, people, environmentalplanning, and architecture as outstanding examples of Green Design from 20nations,” Ioannis Karalias, the Chicago Athenaeum Museum’s vice president,wrote in an email to inform the company of its success.

Phan Ke Binh, or the Breathing House, stands ona plot 3.9m wide and 17.8m deep for a single family, located down a small alleyin the heart of Ho Chi Minh City.

“Due to the circumstances of the site, theopening of the building was physically constrained to the front, top and backof the house. In order to adjust the distance between neighbouring buildingswhile maximizing the opening area, we wrapped the aforementioned three surfacesof the building with a “green veil”, which is made of creeper plants that growon a steel mesh. This soft layer, as an environmental diffuser, filters directsunlight and prevents the interior space from overexposure to the outside,without the feeling of isolation,” the company describes on its website.

Nocenco Café is located on the rooftop of a7-floor building in Vinh city.

The existing concrete structure was covered withbamboo which has been converted into an element that creates spatial qualities.

There are 10 bamboo columns to hide the existingstructure and four additional columns. These columns elegantly divide the spaceinto different private areas.

“The dome and rectangular spaces on the rooftopfit with the existing L-shaped space. They generate a framed view of thehistorical stadium and the beautiful cityscape. It also connects two vaultbamboo structures that open up to the cityscape,” the website describes.

Bamboo Stalactite is a free community space inVenice, Italy.

“Bamboo helps to create a space, rich in itsconnection with the beauty of nature, with the sun, the wind and the sea. Forthat reason, this bamboo space easily becomes the city’s landmark despite itssmall size,” its website says.

The pavilion comprises 11 modules, each shapedby the combination of two hyperbolic shell structures. Structural beams for thepavillion had already been prepared in Vietnam before being installed in Veniceby Vietnamese and Italian architects and students within 25 days.

Founded in 2006, VTN Architects has become anindustry leader in Vietnam with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi gatheringover 60 international architects, engineers and staff.

The company won the same awards in 2014,2015,  2017 and 2018 for Farming Kindergarten in Dong Nai province, Housefor Trees in HCM City, S-House 2 in Long An province, Stone House in Quang Ninhprovince, Atlas Hotel in Quang Nam province, Hoan House in Nha Trang city, DongAnh House, Son La Ceremonial Dome, Stacked Planters in HCM City, and Binh Housein HCM City.-VNS/VNA