AIA Southeast Asia Symposium 2024 - Welcome Speech + Vietnam - Grayscale: Architecture Of Fog
When: Friday 21 June 2024 @ 07:15 (Eastern US Time)/ 18:15 (Vietnam time)
Where: Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects, 88 Mac Dinh Chi Street, Da Kao, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam/ ONLINE
CES Credits - Estimated 1 LU for AIA Members
Schedule
07:15 (Eastern US Time)/ 18:15 (Vietnam time): Welcome Speech
07:30 (Eastern US Time)/ 18:30 (Vietnam time): Vietnam - Grayscale: Architecture Of Fog
Speakers
Welcome: Yew Kee Cheong, FAIA, MSIA, President, AIA International, President of AIA Southeast Asia. Founding Partner, 2B ARCHITECTS
Welcome: Nguyen Truong Luu, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects (HAA)
Vietnam Speaker: Khoa Vu, Assoc.AIA, Master of Architecture with Distinction from Harvard Graduate School of Design; Designer at OXMAN
Moderator: Mr. Huynh Van Khang, Ph.D., Arch.; Vice Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Arts, HUTECH University; Member of the Architectural Design Association of Nippon ADAN, Japan; Founder of Passive Design Laboratory PDL
Description
In our rapidly evolving digital world, marked by the urgency of climate change, how can architecture play a significant role in fostering cultural and environmental development in a city, bridging the valuable historical past with a sustainable future? How can architecture balance being both timely, responding to present-day necessities and influences, while also embodying timeless qualities that endure and remain relevant across generations?
This lecture will explore these questions through “Grayscale,” an experimental framework for atmospheric architecture, part of my master's thesis at Harvard University, completed with distinction in 2019. The design application proposes a new laboratory and cultural hub as an extension to the historical railway station in Dalat, a highland city in Vietnam known for its temperate climate, pine forests, and French colonial architecture. Dalat’s iconic fog, now threatened by climate change and deforestation, is central to the project. The project proposes an Architecture of Fog, a bridge between the scale of the body and the scale of the environment, amplifying and restoring the atmospheric quality of the city, both metaphorically and literally. How can architecture be like fog? How can architecture be both natural and artificial?
Speaker Bios
Yew Kee Cheong, is a Singaporean architect with over 25 years of experience in architecture and education, passionate about sustainable and wellness design. Elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2023, Yew Kee holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Design from the University of Nottingham, UK, and a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas, Austin, USA. As the Founding Principal of 2B ARCHITECTS in Singapore, he is licensed in both Singapore and Texas, with projects across eight countries. Yew Kee played a key role in forming the AIA Southeast Asia section and organized the AIA International Region Conference 2018 in Singapore. He served as a Council Member of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) from 2008-2023, founding the SIA Sustainability Committee and chairing the Wellness and Design Competition Committees. Active in professional and community work, he serves on institute councils, advisory committees, mentors students, speaks at public forums, and acts as a juror for awards. In 2013, he received the Singapore Ministry of National Development Medallion for Distinguished Service.
Nguyen Truong Luu is a Vietnamese architect with over 45 years of experience in architecture and the arts. He graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture in 1979 and holds professional practice certificates in ASEAN countries.
Currently, Nguyen Truong Luu serves as Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Architects, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects, President of the Union of Literature and Arts Associations of Ho Chi Minh City, and Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Advisory Council for Architectural Planning. Throughout his extensive career, he has designed over 100 projects and received numerous national architecture and arts awards.
In 2012, Nguyen Truong Luu was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts.
Khoa Vu is a Vietnamese American architect based in New York, whose work intersects the measurable rationality of built form and the immeasurable phenomenology of embodied experience. He holds a Master of Architecture with Distinction from Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he won the Araldo Cossutta Prize for Design Excellence and the Department of Architecture Faculty Design Award. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with High Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, receiving the Eisner Prize for highest achievement in Creative Art in Architecture. Khoa has worked in international offices in Japan, Switzerland, and the USA. At Michael Maltzan Architecture, he led various projects, including the Alexander McQueen exhibition at LACMA, 26 Point 2 Apartments in Long Beach, and a 750-seat Music Performance Theater in Rochester, New York. His work has been widely awarded and published, including the Lexus Design Award at Milan Design Week, the Venice Biennale, and the Architecture MasterPrize. Khoa is currently focused on pioneering research and innovation for nature-centric architecture at OXMAN.
Mr. Huynh Van Khang serves as the Vice Dean of the Architecture and Arts Faculty and Head of the Architecture Department at HUTECH University. He is also the co-founder of the architectural firm Passive Design Laboratory (PDL) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Khang earned his Master's and Doctoral degrees at the University of Shiga Prefecture, Japan, on a Japanese government scholarship (MEXT), and later worked there as a post-doctoral research fellow. His expertise includes environmental architecture, energy efficiency, and cultural heritage preservation, with a focus on bioclimatic architectural design and Passive Design principles. Khang's work integrates natural energy sources such as wind, sunlight, and heat, tailored to the local context to mitigate the environmental impact of architecture. His designs balance inspiration from Japanese minimalism with the unique vernacular characteristics of Vietnamese architecture. He has received numerous design awards and green building certifications, including the Japan Good Design Awards for passive houses suited to tropical climates. Outside his professional work, Khang enjoys sketching, drawing, calligraphy, and photography, and has held solo art exhibitions in Ho Chi Minh City, Yokohama, and Osaka, as well as participated in exhibitions for young Japanese artists.
This symposium is brought to you with the generous support of our event partner, the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Architects.
