The construction of Le Reve Hotel is halted as of May 2021 due to COVID.

The site sits on a triangular lot in a quieter corner clustered by low-rise antique shops in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City. As such, it serves as a gatekeeper of the neighborhood. We paid attention to how the new volume and scale of the development would serve and blend well to this small piece of the urban fabric, so as not to overwhelm the existing old streetscape and activities.

The ground floor and mezzanine levels offset from the street boundaries to create a semi-public space sheltered inside the pilotis, hoping that it will serves as a breather in a city where building volumes are extruded to the maximum. Bamboo-cast GRC (glass reinforced concrete) facade panels and other bamboo motifs pervade throughout the building to echo the abundant natural resource of Vietnam. The daylight cast on the monotone facade, engraved with fine lines of bamboo grooves, creates evolving shadows and textures throughout the day to engage the building with the neighborhood as an announcer of time.

Design team: Mieko Watanabe, Nam Ho, Five Elements Development