Branching out: Café creates bamboo canopy

Vietnam – Architecture practice Vo Trong Nghia has created a bamboo café along the Dakbla River in Vietnam that draws on the aesthetics of the local area.

The shape of Vietnamese fishing baskets inspired the structure of the Kontum Indochine Café, part of the Kontum Indochine Hotel. Fifteen conical bamboo columns support the café roof, creating a canopy overhead that also helps to keep the space cool. The architects used locally sourced bamboo, traditional treatment methods such as smoke drying, and bamboo nails for the structure.

‘The challenge of the project was to respect the nature of bamboo as a material and to create a distinctive space unique to bamboo,’ say the architects. ‘The bamboo columns create an inner lining, giving the impression of being in a bamboo forest.’

Architects are increasingly incorporating locally sourced materials and craft aesthetics into projects in a show of respect to local heritage. Read our Crafted Locale design direction to see more interpretations of this idea.