Vas Office Building

Dedicated to VAS steel manufacturer, locates in Hòa Khánh industrial park, one of the many in Da Nang, Vietnam. The city is classified within the tropical monsoon climate, with an average humidity of 75%. The year is divided into two seasons: typhoon & wet with an average rainfall 2044mm and highest wind speed 14m/s, dry season with highest temperature reaching 41°c. Urbanization and Industrialization has left the land scorched with asphalt & concrete surface, the air fill with pollutants, the water contaminated. A contrast image to the lush green environment fostering diverse ecological species that it once was. Environmental issues spark an inspiration for changes. A new seed to shift this anthropocentric industrial land to an eco- centric, environmental friendly development. Juxtapose against the industrial setting, the VAS office emerges not as an office building but an escape space for both white and blue collars. It filters noises, visual eyesores, all the hustling bustling of labor works, and what is left is just one’s selfness blended with nature. This sense of space is often found in traditional local house throughout the region; such example includes the well- known Hoi An row house. A typical house usually consists of open space at front, middle, and back of the house to facilitate cross ventilation and promote a positive connection to the environment. Architecture as FLOW - Located right in the heart of the steel plant, the VAS office surround and surrounded by nature as if it is an extension of the ecological landscape. The courtyard forest form by shifting and detaching the programmatic spaces slightly. It is densely inhabited by the vegetation, creeping and enveloping the architecture with walkways, creating an interactive space for the employees and workers. The unity of spaces form a geometric structure that is “FLOW”.