seemingly built from scraps, aaaaaa’s office on stilts embraces the vietnamese climate

aaaaaa completes TBD OFFICE as a temporary working space 

Sited on a rental plot in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, the TBD office is a temporary working space built from corrugated metal plates, evoking a grouping of scraps. Local practice Aaaaaa completed the 240 sqm project for a general contractor specialized in interior fittings, providing them with a practical design on stilts that creatively responds to the city’s fast-growing urban fabric and tropical weather. 

‘Through this project, we hope to present an alternative to our industry in responding to the brief and the unspoken condition affecting the city’s urban fabric. At the same time, offering a feasible shift to employ and modernize our local knowledge, recognizing the intrinsic connection between rural and urban areas as they are developing simultaneously,‘ explains the practice.

addressing urban sprawl and sea level rise  

Although Ho Chi Minh holds the record for being Vietnam’s fastest-growing metropolis, the city is yet to experience the severe effects of sea level rise. As such, TBD Office incorporates practical features commonly found in vernacular-tropical architecture — namely, being built on stilts to avoid potential flooding, facilitate natural ventilation, and allow natural water absorption deep into the ground to refill the aquifer underneath. ‘As common as it is in the rural area, this practice is overlooked as the city develops its urban fabric,’ notes the Aaaaaa team.

Reflecting the idea of ‘developing one’s own products’, the design addresses the TBD Office’s complete cycle by offering the option to either move or upcycle parts of it to new constructions or dismantle for scraps to recoup part of the developer’s initial investment when the lease ends.

‘TBD is as much an architectural challenge for our contractor partner to go beyond their line of work and expand their market as it is for us to address the fast-changing future of the city. Foreign as it looks, the building offers a familiar experience. By borrowing the surrounding landscape yet to be developed, the building’s spatial perception embodied the openness that positioned itself in an in-between state, between inside and outside, and embracing the nature of tropical vernacular. This effect is further enhanced by using a monochromatic interior that blurs the hard building line and its corner,’ concludes the practice. 

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project info:

name: TBD Office

location: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam 

architecture: Aaaaaa | @aaaaaa.vn

structure: Thai Binh Duong Construction

photography: Hiroyuki Oki

completion year: 2022 

gross built area: 240 sqm