Status: Completion 03.2019
Location: MD2 Nguyen Van Linh street, District 7, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
Site area: 640 m2
GFA: 840 m2
Client: Pizza 4Ps Corporation
Away from the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City center, Ippudo Vietnam is located at District 7, which is 8km to the South. This is the first branch of a Japanese ramen restaurant, and it is sited in an emerging housing development. Adjacent to a pool that is public-accessible, this is a renovation project in which an existing 8m-high two-story steel structure building with an area of 540m2 to be converted to a restaurant with a semi-outdoor space.
The site location, District 7 is an emerging residential area that has been developed by foreign developers. The rapid and monotonous city development with its high-rise residential and commercial buildings resulted in a lack of consideration with its surroundings. Due to the lack of attention to human and pedestrian needs, people often feel out of place within this development.
Since this restaurant is located in a tropical climate region, the focus is to utilise the power of plants. By using greenery, a multi-layered landscape is created by overlapping multiple green screens. The in-between space then becomes the dining space. The purpose is to enhance and humanize the spacious semi-outdoor space. Green screen is considered an appropriate material as it features low heat radiation, as well as the aesthetics itself.
Screens made by wooden chopsticks are designed to connect the local culture with the landscape screens. This locally-made natural material is aimed to express and embrace Vietnamese craftsmanship.
These multi-layered screens of green and wooden chopsticks celebrate human activity in between and create a landscape in day and night with a depth.
The building design is kept to be as simple as possible. It is a place where activities and interaction occur between the multi-layered screens. The space is designed to be comfortable and familiar to its surrounding. Therefore, families often utilise the comfortable dining space as a resting place while they are using the adjacent pool
[Design] Takashi Niwa Architects (Architecture, Landscape and Furniture)
Design Team: Takashi Niwa, Nguyen Le Khanh Duy, Nguyen Van Khuong, Vu Thi Thanh Huong, Yukari Akutsu
[Contractors]
Contractor: Toan Dinh (Tran Duc Nha, Bui Thanh Tien, Mai Minh Nhat, Truong Nguyen Minh Hau)
Products: Products: Taicera, VietCeramic, Betonlab, TOTO, Caeser
[Photographs]
Photographs: Hiroyuki Oki