vinh, in central vietnam, has been a battleground for multiple wars resulting in a massive amount of destruction to the city and the surrounding region. renovation for vietnam’s biggest city in the central region of the country has steered toward european design with colonial style façades, providing VTN architects with its latest challenge.

from street level, the bamboo material is visible on both levels: the rooftop dome and cafe under
all images by trieu chien

the project, titled ‘nocenco cafe,’ focused on morphing a middle-rise concrete building located in the city center of vinh. this scheme sees a renovated a cafe on the last floor and rooftop of a 7th floor turned into a neighborhood and city icon, with an emphasis on using a unique local material to create a new structure.

‘nocenco cafe‘ provides a completely unique interior but follows the bamboo theme

after a study period, VTN architects decided to use bamboo; an easily accessible material in the tropical climate reducing construction time and budget, but one that is also light and structurally sound.

the club has a cave like feel but sports open views of the surrounding city

the end product was a large dome structure on the roof with a club/lounge recognizable from any part of the city and a redesigned cafe on the floor below with an interior built using bamboo. this project equips a city that was once ravaged by war with a gathering place that has ‘a great view over the surrounding low-rise houses, towards the river, magnificent forest scape and various aged buildings.‘

the rooftop’s structure is built from bamboo and take the shape of an ‘L’

the vietnam-based architecture firm used ten bamboo columns to hide the existing structure and four additional columns to elegantly divide the space into different private areas, thus creating a cave-like space but juxtaposed with an open view of the surrounding city.

center of the dome is an open area

the club dome supported by bamboo columns opens up the surrounding views of the city

the dome is left open at the top

the bamboo structure provides a local and organic aspect to the neighborhood

clear views of the city from the rooftop club

the cafe under the rooftop club also sports views of the surrounding neighborhood

the incorporation of bamboo creates a unique environment complimented by shrubbery

the bamboo cafe also allows for natural light to enter

project info:

name: nocenco cafe

principal architects: vo trong nghia, nguyen tat dat

design team: to quang cam, le hoang tuyet ngoc, takahito yamada

office credit: VTN architects (vo trong nghia architects)

status: built in may 2018

program: café, club

location: vinh city, nghe an, vietnam

footprint: 438 sqm

GFA: 687 sqm

bamboo contractor: VTN architects

photography: trieu chien