Flamingo Dailai Resort, Vietnam – Vo Trong Nghia Architects
Gross Floor Area: 1,600 sqm
Photography: Hiroyuki Oki
OK – so it’s not a home. But it is a wonderful example of the beauty and flexibility of the world’s most renewable timber… bamboo. Bamboo is incredibly strong due to it’s long fibres and high silica content. Yes it can be readily bent and shaped using heat without damaging the inherent strength of the material. This allows for significant spans, in this instance, up to 13.6 metres without any interim support.
This development is a residential retreat situated just an hour’s drive from Vietnam’s largest city, Hanoi. Wedged between a lake and the mountains the development comprises two buildings, a conference hall and the ‘Bamboo Wing”. While the buildings are complementary, they are visually very different.
As can be seen above, the Bamboo Wing is all bamboo, lightn and open. The conference hall, in contrast, greets guest with a metre thick stone wall as a way of symbolising that the a new world stands on the other side.
Internally, the bamboo theme continues, complemented by visually arresting block walls.
Water and stepping stones are a focal point throughout to enhance the feeling of solitiude and isolation.
The development won the ARCASIA Building of the Year award for 2014.
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The 'Bamboo Wing'
A one metre thick stone wall greets visitors to the conference hall.
Massive, unsupported spans are a feature of the conference hall at Dailai
Dalai Conference Hall Plan
Two other award winning projects by this architect are Bamboo Brilliance – Wind and Water Cafe and Stacking Green…
