My colleague, KTS Trà Giang introduced me to two beautiful cafés in Ho Chi Minh City this weekend. Architects in Vietnam are addressed as "KTS", an abbreciation for Kiến Trúc Sư, the Vietnamese words for architect. Cafés in Việt Nam are much larger and more comfortable versions of coffee houses in America.
The first was the Elip Café at 530/23 Đường Thống Nhất, Phường 16, Q. Gò Vấp, TPHCM. Elip is a Vietnamese adaption of the word ellipse, and the basic layout of the cafe is an ellipse, an oval where tables are laid out under a bamboo canopy with a oval pond in the middle open to the sky. The form is an innovative use of bamboo in a complex geometry.
The entry is set back from Thong Nhat Street by about 30 meters, so it is too easy to miss. At the entry, a ramp leads to the parking garage below while the pedestrian entry heads up stairs to the left.
The entry path is by stepping-stones across a pond with small fountains and beautiful plant life.
This is a modernist architecture that evolves from the use of one material: bamboo. This architecture is in line with the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as well as Peter Zumthor, both firms which have been awarded the Pritzker Prize, with Zumthor's awarded just a few days ago. These architects study and mold one material into beautiful forms. In this case, it is the way bamboo has been structurally put together to compose complex forms.
The roofing material, however, was a very poor choice of red asphalt shingles, since this pliable material accentuates the unevenness of the bamboo structure.
We visited on one of the hottest days of the year (a record was set for HCMC at 36 C. this day), so we chose to sit in a "tearoom" upstairs with a zen feeling.
Since this was elevated, it caught the breezes through the bamboo and we remained cool.
There is an air-conditioned seating area available below the tearoom. The coffee and other drinks and ice cream selections were normal for this type of cafe (18,000 VND, a little over $1, for cà phê đá, iced coffee). As usual, I feel very fortunate to live in a land where coffee and culture, especially architecture, are revered and experienced daily.
That is not smoke in the photo above -- it is misting cooling water.
The other cafe is quite different but equally beautiful for its setting. Americans are very familiar with the small coffee shops attached to large bookstores such as Borders or Barnes & Noble. Similarly, this cafe is run by a large bookstore similar in size and selection to a Barnes & Noble, but occupies a full floor above the two floors of the Phuong Nam (PNA) Bookstore at 3 Đường Nguyễn Oanh in the Gò Vấp district between Đường Phám Văn Chí and Đường Quang Trung. This cafe is huge, with many tables in differing settings, as well as an outdoor terrace. Books are spread around in bookcases close to the tables for casual reading.
In this case, it's the graphic color scheme and consistent patterns that make the design. Since the seating is much more comfortable than most cafes, one lingers in this cafe for hours, reading books that one might drop down into the bookstore to buy later. Popular singers take the stage on Friday evenings for live performances.
The enclosing glass walls are modernist in crisp detailing.
And the landscaping is well coordinated with the architecture.
There were several large tables of students comparing notes on the Saturday lunchtime we were there, as well as lots of people with laptop computers taking advantage of the free wireless internet service. Although the prices were average for cafes of this type in HCMC, the comfortable setting and air-conditioning on a very hot day made the setting perfect for students on a budget.
The Gò Vấp district is beyond the airport from downtown, and foreigners are very few out here. But cafes such as this are well worth the trip. The #3 bus makes an almost straight line out towards these two cafes from District One downtown.
