In countries like Vietnam and Thailand, bamboo is taking on more complex forms than ever before, playing an integral role in the future of modern sustainable architecture. One of the firms at the forefront of bamboo innovation is VTN Architects (formerly known as Vo Trong Nghia Architects), founded in 2006 with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and consisting of more than 60 international architects, engineers and staff.

“My village was located in the forest,” says founding partner Vo Trong Nghia. “I remember going to the forest and cutting down trees to sell timber. We destroyed that forest when I was in secondary school. By the time I was about 20 years old, the entire forest in that area was destroyed by the village. It got me thinking about how to protect timber. Other architects tend to use a lot of timber, but I try to use bamboo instead, because it’s more sustainable.”

“The hard wood, like that in our area, takes a long, long time to grow back. But with bamboo, it grows quickly, it is strong, and it’s attractive, too. Using bamboo relieves pressure on the forest. We can use this in restaurants, hotels, homes – it can be used for everything.”

Projects like the firm’s incredible Nocenco Cafe, which transformed the rooftop of a 7-story building in Vinh, epitomize the architect’s vision. An open air club and lounge completed in 2018, the structure uses bamboo like trusses in a Gothic cathedral to form a beautiful dome overhead. The space feels sheltered and protected from the hot sun, but still grants incredible views of the city.

VTN debuted ‘Bamboo Stalactite’ at this year’s Biennale di Venezia. Set along a canal in Venice, the installation is envisioned as a “free space,” shared equally by everyone and open to all for no charge. “Bamboo, with its distinctive flexibility structurally speaking, allows us to realize this project with limited resources (8 Vietnamese workers, with the support of Vietnamese and Italian architects and students to build the pavilion within 25 days.)”

“This flexibility extends beyond structures. Bamboo helps to create a space, rich in its connection with the beauty of nature, with the sun, the wind and the sea. For that reason, this bamboo space easily becomes the city’s landmark despite its small size.”

Still under construction, the firm’s ‘Ting Xi Bamboo Pavilion’ in Xiamen, China further expands upon this idea. 14 fanning bamboo columns support a slightly concave gabled roof. Dining tables are set within this cavernous space, while functions like the kitchen, restrooms, staff room and storage are housed within a triangular brick building in the back.

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Vtn Architects Gives Modern Architecture A Fresh Spin With Bamboo

Going beyond simple stacks of shipping crates and ripped-apart pallets, these creative upcycled architecture projects reclaim stuff like corrugated iron, 5-gallon water bottles, old doors and even junk left over from the London Olympics as building materials and truly elevate them to new heights. These projects offer some fresh ideas, use the materials in new ways or demonstrate how recycled and upcycled architecture integrate into modern designs.

Stedsans in the Woods: Upcycled Permaculture Farm in Sweden

This permaculture farm and retreat nestled in the woods of southern Sweden will function as a “lab for discovering better ways to eat, live and connect with nature,” including a farm-to-table restaurant and a collection of beautiful treehouse-like cabins made of waste wood, fragments of old barns and glass from abandoned greenhouses.

Rising Moon Pavilion Made of Recycled Water Bottles

Reflecting itself into a perfect sphere on the surface of a still pool, ‘Rising Moon’ by Hong Kong-based studio Daydreamers Design is a geodesic dome fitted with 4,800 five-gallon polycarbonate water bottles, each acting as a lantern to help the structure glow. At night, they transmit light from inside out, while during the day, the interior is illuminated by the sun. LED torches are attached to pre-fabricated triangular modules with the bottles fitted over them, and an additional 2,300 bottles hang from the ceiling.

Parasitic Student Residences Made of Pallets for Paris

French architect and graffiti artist Stephane Malka proposes ‘Ame-Lot,’ a series of parasitic structures made of upcycled pallets and other reclaimed materials that attach to existing architecture. The pallets fold and unfold to let more light into the interior, and the structures can be constantly rearranged and added to as necessary for growth, becoming a visual meter of consumption in the city.

Collage House Made of Recycled Doors by S+PS Architects

Over a dozen reclaimed doors and windows salvaged from demolished houses in the city make up a highly unusual and creative collage-style facade for a Mumbai residence by S+PS Architects. This double-height curtain wall makes for some seriously striking curb appeal, and sets the tone for the living room as well. The architects also incorporated other found materials into the home, like metal pipe leftovers pieced together like bamboo to form a ‘pipe wall,’

K Valley House Clad in Reclaimed Iron by Herbst Architects

Rusted corrugated iron sheets resembling the sheds often seen in the New Zealand countryside contrast beautifully with the greenery of the Kauaeranga Valley in ‘K Valley House’ by Herbst Architects. “We positioned the form straddling the ridgeline, engaged with the slope at the high end and floating above the land as it falls away,” they say.

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Acclaim For The Reclaimed 14 Cool Upcycled Architecture Projects

Imagine a sustainable building system that requires only the skills of a potter to complete. A basic earthen structure is formed and finished by traditional clay-firing processes. This remarkable building process culminates in baking every room from the inside, for up to an entire day at up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. The end product is vernacular yet avante garde, traditional but sustainable.

Essentially, the various bricks that compose a building created by using this Geltaftan system are fused into a solid whole after being assembled. The firing process is essentially the same as that which is used in a kiln to finish pottery. Interior furniture (tables, benches and so on) can be fired with the building. The Iranian architect who developed this process first created buildings in Iran but now teaches others who wish to learn his methods in the United States.

The result is inexpensive, durable and homey. Modifications to the process have been developed to improve the resistance to weather, seismic and other natural forces. This process is particularly applicable in desert landscapes where thick packed-Earth structures can reduce internal heat gain during the day and heat loss and night and where land is more abundant than stone, trees or other building materials.