Thesis of the Presentation
Vo Trong Nghia's presentation is cast on an idea of green. It shows that it is possible to have a little bit of green in every home provided the right designs are there. Most of his designs come with a touch of vegetation in his attempt to make the idea resonate.
Is there an Ideology Behind this Presentation?
Short answer, yes, there is a theory that Vo Trong Nghia bases his designs on, and that is architecture in harmony with nature. "Green Our Earth" is the first item displayed in his presentation. It is in the initial part of the lecture that he shows a picture of the aerial view of a Vietnamese city. There is very little green in that city compared to how it was before the urban structures were put up. Behind this straightforward observation, one can see disappointment in the presenter. From this, one can tell that he intends to incorporate nature in his designs. Just because people do not still live in trees, but rather have made great advances in the field of architecture does not mean that they have to do away with nature completely. Vegetation may be added to a structure and make it look even better than it was initially. Vo Trong Nghia also indicates that his designs are in touch with the environment by adding in renewable energy and conservation.
Success of this Architecture in Embroiding its Ideas
Vo Trong's Nghia's designs are extremely successful in making these ideas a reality. First of all, the touch of green is added to the rooftops and sides of the buildings. It is efficient in that it does not interfere with the useful space inside the house. One can have some greenery on the outside of his house and still use the more important space inside his house for its intended purpose. It is also successful in that he shows how this greenery is converted for the good of children. Due to the encroachment of buildings in the cities, children have very little space in which they can make playgrounds.
Growing grass patches on rooftops solves this problem for them. Bamboo trees are another beautiful aspect of his designs. Making the joints fit in perfectly is the hardest part of making the designs a reality but once it they do, the end product is marvelous. Even though this design comes with a greater vastness of brown, it still indicates that it is in sync with nature. Bamboo designs are also cheaper in that the person who intends to use them can reduce costs by assembling them personally although this tends to be very difficult. Houses for trees are also a catchy aspect of these designs. It is hard to comprehend why one would even think of creating a house for a tree, however, one sees that the designs are made to look as if walls are surrounding trees when seen in perspective. Vertical planters slope green roofs and greened louvers perfectly show that the feeling of living on the ground with a backyard can be brought to people living in upper floors.
Aspects of the Design that I Resonate with
One factor that I feel is very important is efficient use of energy in these buildings. Water collected on rooftops runs slowly down due to the design for cooling. Designs are also made with wind direction in mind to reduce air-conditioning costs. All these point to an environmental conservationist strategy. Spaces are used very efficiently to provide for natural lighting and easy ventilation which is economical. Trees provide shade and are good at controlling carbon emissions. In all of these designs, three core factors are included; the first is efficiency, regarding space and resource utilization. Another factor is conservation by having a lot of vegetation on buildings in the city instead of having the structures alone. Also considered is sustainability, air conditioning, lighting and shades are come naturally in the design with nature being quite capable of sustaining its processes. All these factors combined bring out a very economical design model for people to use in cities.
Questions for the Speaker
A burning issue for me is that the speaker's designs work in such a way as to promote harmony with nature and conserve it, why then would he incorporate cutting bamboo trees into his building process? Some very large structures shown in the slides indicate that very many bamboos must have been cut to provide materials, and this is somewhat double standards according to what the designs are trying to achieve.
Another important question is, are these designs sustainable considering the rapid encroachment of cities where every little space, even the rooftops may soon have more use making it difficult to have vegetation there? Also, how receptive are people in general to these designs?
