bamboo screens and climbing plants engulf 'the vibes' in vietnam

exploring the vibes, a multi-functional hub in vietnam

Infinitive Architecture introduces The Vibes, a lowrise multi-functional building designed as a functional hub for F&B, meetings, workshops, galleries, and events in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The project showcases an effort to insert a functional green point into the city without occupying a large plot of land. It also demonstrates a bio-climatic design approach and natural material use, like bamboo, throughout implementation. The venue has entered the spotlight since opening in August 2022, gaining a reputation as a regular place to meet, work, gather, and celebrate right in the heart of the urban center.

all images © Infinitive Architecture

infinitive architecture adopts transitioning space planning

The Vibes comprises three zones. Zone 1 is the ground floor for the Front of the House, F&B, and Back of the House. Zone 2 includes Level 1 and the back half of Level 2, designed for meetings, workshops, and co-working spaces. Zone 3 combines a rooftop garden, occupying half of the Level 2 area, and a Heritage Gallery at Level 3, designed for cultural, educational, speaking, and gathering events. Using transitioning space planning, the team at Infinitive Architecture enhances the building with the main facade on and facing the inside. The journey from the gate to the courtyard garden (before getting to the entrance lobby) is long enough to gradually increase the feeling of transitioning into a tranquil oasis. The courtyard is quiet enough to hear birds and cicadas chirping and the fine wind-powered sound on the bamboo facade curtain. Additionally, the 3D interlaced public green spaces make part of the massing vanish into the landscape. The build-up areas form part of a landscape system.

main facade at the courtyard

Green spaces at different levels are all connected horizontally and vertically in a way that encourages people to explore the upper floors of the picturesque green scenery. A vast plant screen wall at the end of the courtyard walkway defines the entrance to the building. This green screen wall of vertical cable climbing plants eliminates the inside and outside boundaries. Sunlight and open-air soothe the eight-meter-high open lobby with large foliage trees, forming an outstanding secondary under-shadow garden with zero distance from the courtyard garden.

courtyard garden view to front block

a see-through concept designed with eco-friendly materials

The idea of massing demonstrates the see-through concept. Four layers of eight-meter-high bamboo sunshade screens on all glass curtain walls sandwich the interior spaces. These sun-shading screens provide low-opacity views from the interior toward the surroundings yet maintain sensible privacy for the spaces in between them. The second and third layers are key geometric elements of the main facade of the building, in a rational proportion with other rectangular surfaces, including climber plants, grass, and water features, coming in a U-folded assemblage. The concave part of the massing on the front forms the entrance walkway and offers an appealing view of the courtyard.

courtyard view to back block

The building nests within an energy-saving envelope, with a 100% glass curtain wall system hidden behind the bamboo skin. On top of that, a system of cable climbing plants and drooping plant screen walls as space dividers at open lounges and corridors makes these buffering spaces more retreating and comfortable. Movement and sound effects, derived from the bamboo screen oscillation, infuse the spaces with a tranquil mood. It also results in a lively emotion, especially from the interior, while looking through a sunshade screen in motion.

buffering corridor at The Vibes

The Vibes generates an eco-friendly atmosphere through the use of materials. Bamboo, plant screen walls, and autoclaved bricks are elements of green material composition. As a microclimate improvement solution, Infinitive Architecture designs outdoor ground surfaces to minimize the absorption and radiating of the sun’s energy back to the outdoor spaces. The courtyard and the rooftop garden surfaces come with grass, a water feature, and crushed stone aggregate topping on Geocells, with fine concrete or step stone walkways where needed. The use of materials and a great density of greenery entitles the building to a regularly comfortable outdoor and semi-outdoor temperature. The Onduline Roofing System for both the roof and the external walls of the Heritage Gallery in Zone 3 demonstrates an eco-friendly and recycled material for the envelope.

Last but not least, the Heritage Gallery in Zone 3 plays a meaningful role as a part of the formerly-named city of Saigon. The gallery has a transparent entrance wall facing the rooftop garden just one level below, yet is designed with acoustic elements, including an origami-inspired ceiling design and an installation of over 3,000 pieces of 160-year-old clay roof tiles from the oldest standing church in the city. Conveying a preservation message, the place has hosted many cultural activities and events. It expects to become a regular exhibition space for photographs, paintings, and maps about the old Saigon, as a tiny contribution to heritage preservation in Vietnam.

staircase atrium