Antidote to Burnout

Honeybees in Vietnam

I now have two bee honeycombs outside my office window here in the Tân Bình district of Ho Chi Minh City.

The upper comb has been there for over a year.

A couple of weeks ago, some bees split off and started building the lower honeycomb. The bees never swarm, and my windows are always closed to keep the air conditioning in, so they do not bother anybody, and we leave them alone. I am impressed with their choice of location in the bougainvillea vine -- the honeycombs are sheltered from heavy rain by the tree branches and the building overhangs, and they do not get direct hot sun because of the shading of the leaves and flowers. My view from the window has long been obstructed by the growth of the vine, so I don't mind the new bulk of the honeycombs.

Modernist mid-size building in Vietnam

In the two years while I have been negligent in posting here, modernist architecture in Ho Chi Minh City has flourished. I used to say that Vietnamese architects are masters of modernist architecture for houses, but haven't been able to apply it to larger buildings.

But I have been finding excellent modernist mid-size buildings lately out in the neighborhoods of Saigon. This building is located at 15 Đồng Đa in Phường 2 of the Tân Bình district, out by the airport.

This facade demonstrates a very simple but well-articulated pattern of window mullions and floor spandrels while remaining very glassy. This is a very clean and simple solution for an office building, and provides and elegant image for the tenants. This building is also unusual in providing windows on the sides. Most buildings of this size out in the neighborhoods have blank walls, providing a cave-like environment within. Therefore the working environment for the tenants in this building is probably much more productive with the availability of natural light.