It’s not often that you can choose from dozens of cafes situated high above a crowded urban plaza, gazing out at the landscape from a table on the balcony, all for the price of a coffee. In Ho Chi Minh City, such views come cheap thanks to a highly unusual reuse project transforming a 1960s apartment complex into a sort of vertical food court. Set along the city’s pedestrian street, 42 Nguyen Hue finds a new purpose for a formerly abandoned concrete building that’s no longer well suited for habitation, inviting passersby to come up and explore.

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After passing through the ground-floor motorbike parking lot, you’ll be charged VND 3,000 (about thirteen U.S. cents) to use the elevator, which is refundable if you make a purchase at any of the places above. Then, navigate floor after floor of cafes, boutiques and jewelry shops, taking a moment to look outside each time. There’s Vietnamese cuisine, of course, but also sushi, Hawaiian poke and more.

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In the ‘60s, the building was a hip new place for important people to live, and its residents included government officials like the first secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, according to Asia Life Magazine. People who can recall living or growing up there are often amused to learn what their old apartments have become. The interior layouts are much the same as they used to be, but the interiors are often divided between several businesses, with the living rooms offering prime spots with balcony access.

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The particular mix of cafes and shops at 42 Nguyen Hue is meant to appeal to millennials, and if Instagram is any indication, it’s working. The apartments are all over the #nguyenhue and #nguyenhuestreet tags. Given its condition, particularly compared to the gleaming buildings adjacent to it, it’s hard to say how much longer this experiment will last, but it’s a cool idea that could easily transfer to other vacant buildings in big, busy cities. You can find a guide to the building at Vietnam Coracle.

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You’re in good hands when you walk the recently opened Golden Bridge in the Ba Na Hills – two humongous hands carved from stone, to be exact.

Some say driving in Vietnam is a gripping experience… don’t even ask about walking. Until now, that is, and for that we can thank the eye-popping, jaw-dropping, finger-lickin’-good (OK, don’t try licking these fingers) Golden Bridge. The 150-meter (just under 500-ft) long pedestrian walkway forms a nearly-closed loop, offering visitors a leisurely yet visually-enriching route from the resort’s cable car station to the lush Avatar Gardens.

The Golden Bridge was commissioned by resort-owner Sun Group and is set among the scenic Ba Na Hills about 40 km (25 miles) west of Da Nang. The concept can be credited to Vu Viet Anh, principal designer and founder of TA Landscape Architecture. According to Anh, the bridge takes the form of a suspended gold thread held aloft by a god’s mighty hands.

Ba Na Hill Station was founded by French colonists in 1919. They chose the location, roughly 1,400 meters (about 4,600 ft) above sea level in the Truong Son mountains, for its cooler, fresher climate and spectacular scenic vistas. Accessibility was greatly improved in March of 2013 when the Ba Na Cable Car opened. The tram system is notable for holding the world record for the longest non-stop single track cable car at 5,801 meters (just over 19,000 ft) in length.

The Golden Bridge (“Cau Vang” in Vietnamese), which opened in June of 2018, was meant to supplement the cable car system and act as an incentive to the hospitality sector. In recent years the government of Vietnam has endeavored to boost incoming tourism, especially from neighboring China, and offer that nation’s vacationers an appealing alternative to Thailand.

The 5-meter (16.5 ft) wide Golden Bridge’s outstanding features are the pair of enormous hands that support the walkway. They’re not actually carved from stone, by the way. Instead, they’re formed from fiberglass-covered metal mesh displaying a distressed appearance.

“We’re proud that our product has been shared by people all over the world,” states Vu Viet Anh of TA Landscape Architecture. That includes eco-tourists, whose concerns about disruptive construction were addressed from the get-go. “The key to the design development was how the structure was to be inserted into a sensitive site, without major damage and disruption to the cliff below,” confirms Anh. In addition, he adds, “Columns used for the Golden Bridge had their frames painted in appropriate shades to blend in with the forest and give off the impression of a hovering structure.”

Positive reviews of the Golden Bridge have so impressed the resort owners, they’ve already contacted TA Landscape Architecture for a follow-up project. Details are scarce but, according to one source, an extension of the Golden Bridge in the form of a silver strand of a god’s hair will someday complement this heavenly bridge of gold.

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

A lot of architectural schemes start from scratch with the assumption that everything on the building site will be razed or removed, but for this office structure, the designers saved and raised up the robust greenery already occupying the lot.

In Da Nang, Vietnam’s fourth-largest city, Ho Khue Architects saw the resilient native plants as an opportunity to inform their overall approach and reduce their eco-footprint. Pampas grass, bamboo shrubs, banana trees and other types were evaluated for optimal relocation.

Some species were uprooted and replanted indoors, to visually warm concrete spaces and provide fresh air, set in pots and hung from ceilings.

Climbing varieties were offered purchase on the structures exterior, with lattices and other textured surfaces providing opportunities for growing vines.

Other plants were relocated to the rooftop, creating an outdoor garden while also serving as a thermal barrier to cool inside floors below.

Overall, the greenery sets up a nice contrast with concrete surfaces and minimal furnishings and fixtures, and operates in tandem with various passive cooling and ventilation strategies.

Per the architects: “Working in this modern office evokes feelings reminiscent of childhood and a time when life was simpler. The air flow is fresh from the sea leading to comfortable temperature without being cold. Today’s younger generation may have had little or no time in the countryside. This office has brought the spirit and the heart of the rural areas to the workplace.” For more inside-out (or: outside-in) designs, check out this collection of ten offices that have creatively incorporated greenery.

You might not want to live in a shipping container permanently, but now you can test-drive one for a night or two at the affordable, streamlined and modern Ccasa Hostel in Vietnam. Colorful cargo containers are stacked on top of each other to create a tower of rentable rooms, set within an open air framework that takes advantage of the tropical local climate. Located in Nha Trang just a three-minute walk from the beach, it’s intended for backpackers who flock to the area to enjoy local mineral spring resorts and temples.

The design of the hostel is based on that of a family home, with lots of beds sharing bathroom, kitchen and living room facilities. Some of the converted shipping containers offer private bedrooms, while others are packed full of bunks in traditional hostel fashion. The containers are seen as just a place to sleep or rest in between adventures or socializing in the common areas.

Ccasa Hostel contains three functional blocks: the sleeping block, the washing block and the serving block. The serving block is made of steel frames and black painted metal sheets, and the washing block mimics typical Vietnamese architecture with white-painted bricks and concrete. The three colors of the shipping containers denote different kinds of bedrooms.

Instead of the dank, dark corridors you’d usually find in a cheap hostel, there are breezy open-air walkways looking down onto the courtyard below, which is filled with trees. A system of ropes and steel framing encourages climbing vines to obscure the shipping containers on the rear of the building, and as it grows, it’ll create a living screen that filters air, light and noise.