Vietnam Museum of Ethnology’s architectural space wins the 2024 International Architecture Awards

Outside view of the Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee, an architectural space inside the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Photo courtesy of the museum

HÀ NỘI — Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee, a cafe and architectural space inside the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, recently received two international architecture awards in the United States.

The first award is an Honourable Mention at the International Architecture Awards 2024, organised by the Chicago Athenaeum, a museum of architecture and design.

The International Architecture Awards honours the best and most significant new buildings, landscape architecture and planning projects designed and built by the world’s leading architects, landscape architects and urban planners practising nationally and internationally.

The second award is a "Green Good Design Sustainability Awards 2024” by the Chicago Athenaeum and the Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.

Among all nominations, Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee is the only Vietnamese establishment representing the country at this year's prestigious awards.

Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee's architecture is a combination of the techniques of building earthen/bamboo walls of mountainous ethnic people and highly reusable materials. Photo courtesy of the museum

Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee is situated within the architectural complex of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, a prestigious space known for its scientific research, collection, restoration and display of historical artifacts and which receives about 500,000 visitors yearly.

The Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee project is a public-private partnership between the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and the Trúc Lâm Handicraft Company Ltd., as well as the 1+1>2 International Construction Architecture Joint Stock Company led by Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Architects, architect Hoàng Thúc Hào and architect Vũ Xuân Sơn.

With more than 600 square metres of flexible outdoor and indoor areas, it can accommodate up to 500 guests. The restaurant serves as a destination that embraces its heritage, recreating a symbolic image of a Vietnamese village, including a banyan tree, water well and communal yard.

Trúc Lâm space displays many works of art such as wooden elephant statues, Buddha heads and other wooden statues reminiscent of Central Highlands tomb houses. Photo courtesy of the museum

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology deputy director Bùi Ngọc Quang said that the green architecture of Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee made the museum more luxurious, modern and closer to people.

“The architects have used the cultural language of ethnic groups to draw on the museum space, creating a space close to the language of the museum and not separate from the museum,” said Quang.

Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee's architecture was built using a combination of techniques from mountainous ethnic people for constructing earthen/bamboo walls. It also makes use of highly reusable materials. This harmonious blend of modernity and tradition provides a unique experience for customers and serves as inspiration for Trúc Lâm's following projects.

A view of Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee. Photo courtesy of the museum

Architect Vũ Xuân Sơn said that the space was built on the idea of ​​a small restaurant embracing the heritage banyan tree, recreating a traditional image familiar to Vietnamese villages: the banyan tree, water well and communal yard.

“The project functions as a space for visitors to rest and relax. It is also a place to display, teach and practice Vietnamese handicrafts, which is also the strength of Trúc Lâm Handicraft Company,” said Sơn.

Trúc Lâm's space displays many works of art such as wooden elephant statues, Buddha heads and other wooden statues reminiscent of Central Highlands tomb houses. These works have a very unique artistic meaning, containing the deep cultural and spiritual values ​​of ethnic minorities and, more broadly, the typical imprint of Vietnam, according to Sơn.

Along with prioritising the project's structure and materials, Trúc Lâm Handicraft Company also made marked investments in the restaurant's interior decoration. This includes a variety of antiques, complex carvings from agarwood, hand-sculpted natural jade stone statues and centuries-old brocade embroidered paintings, which come together to establish a unique Vietnamese ambience for both domestic and foreign customers.

A view inside Trúc Lâm Restaurant and Coffee. Photo courtesy of the museum

Vice Director of Trúc Lâm Handicraft Company Vũ Liên said her company wanted to promote Vietnamese national culture through handicraft products.

“We want to bring visitors the experience of a cultural space that combines tradition and modernity when they visit the ethnic cultural space, especially the ethnic house architecture at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology," said Liên.

The two prestigious awards show worthy recognition for Trúc Lâm Handicraft Company's research efforts and good cooperation with strategic partners, affirming the unique characteristics of Vietnamese culture in modern architecture that meets world standards. — VNS