Traditional Mekong House – Bac Lieu

Traditional Mekong House is an extension of Vo Thi Sau Secondary School, which is located at the end of the Mekong River – a place with tropical monsoon climate, and with the highest rate of illiteracy in Vietnam due to the facilities shortage.

Architect Khiem was invited to join this project by his old teacher as a lead-design architect responsible for finding anti-heat solution to the west façade of building. A master plan was proposed to build a 45-degree inclined wall as a sunshade stand and a light roof that gets 3 meters to prevent the large amount of rain, which is a typical climate in these areas. To save construction costs, he put forward a passive design solution for natural ventilation with overhead louvers and windows/doors that open through the room instead of an artificial air conditioning system. After researching, the design team claimed that the project would use reinforced concrete structure, pressed piles on soft ground and steel roof frame with a 10-meter span to help the building have a sustainable life of over 50 years and save construction costs with a limited budget of 100,000 USD.

To implement this design project, architect Khiem has pursued it for more than 5 years with 4 design options presented to the local authority. Eventually, his passive design plan was selected for construction and completed at the end of 2019. It is a small gift that he wanted to send to his father, his teacher and his neighborhood who raised him to become an architect.