Vietnamese architecture scoops int'l prize

Earning 44 percent of votes in the "Urban House" section, Bat Trang House got its name due to its location near Hanoi’s Bat Trang Village, famed for its centuries-old traditional pottery, and for its facade made of perforated red clay tiles.

The structure doubles up as a shophouse. The ground floors are a showroom for ceramic products while the top four levels have a kitchen, living room, five bedrooms, and several airy gardens.

Bat Trang House in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of VTN Architects

Nghia is renowned for using traditional and local materials in his designs, and Bat Trang House is no exception.

Winning the "Hospitality Building" section with 65 percent of votes, Vedana Restaurant is located outside Cuc Phuong National Park in northern Ninh Binh Province. Its 1,050-meter-square structure has a distinctive look thanks to its three-gabled circular roof made of bamboo. It stands almost 16 meters high and has a radius of 18 meters at its widest.

The restaurant is on the bank of an artificial lake that serves as a natural air-conditioner and a reservoir that stores rainwater running down the nearby mountains, used to irrigate the 16.4-hectare site.

The roof, inspired by traditional architecture, is made of 36 modular frames.

Vedana Restaurant in Ninh Binh Province. Photo courtesy of VNT Architects

In March, the building also won the Grand Prize at the prestigious Yuan Ye Awards in China.

The public vote is separate from the main Dezeen Awards 2021 judging process, which will be announced in November. Over 53,000 votes were cast and verified across all categories.

Organized by Dezeen, a popular architecture and design website, Dezeen Awards 2021 attracts more than 4,000 attendees from 87 countries and territories.