MAISON DE FRANCE – HO CHI MINH CITY

RENOVATION • COMPETITION • 2025

PROJECT: MAISON DE FRANCE

CLIENT: CCIFV & Institut Français du Vietnam

Located at the intersection of Tran Quoc Thao and Dien Bien Phu in central Ho Chi Minh City, the Maison de France competition proposal explores how an existing modernist building can be carefully transformed to accommodate new uses while preserving its architectural identity.

Built in the 1950s and associated with Vietnamese architect Ngo Viet Thu, the building is representative of Vietnam’s tropical modernist heritage. Its deep balconies, generous overhangs, naturally ventilated circulation spaces and protective roof already respond intelligently to Saigon’s tropical climate. Rather than replacing these qualities, T3 Architects’ proposal takes them as the starting point for the renovation.

The project brings together the Institut Français du Vietnam and the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam within a shared cultural and professional hub. The programme combines classrooms and offices with flexible workspaces, meeting rooms, an innovation showroom, artists’ accommodation and studios, event spaces, a restaurant and bookshop. The different functions are distributed throughout the existing structure to create clear circulation while encouraging interaction between cultural, educational and business activities.

Architectural interventions are intentionally restrained. Existing elements are restored and complemented by new solar and rain protection, naturally ventilated areas and additional planting. Cascading vegetation along the balconies forms a living screen around the façades, providing shade while reinforcing the relationship between the building and the tropical landscape. Extended roof canopies make the upper terraces more comfortable and usable throughout the year.

A new sculptural external staircase facing Dien Bien Phu provides the most visible contemporary intervention. Conceived as a new urban signal for Maison de France, it gives the institution a recognizable presence in the city while remaining in dialogue with the proportions and architectural language of the existing building.

Through preservation, adaptation and targeted bioclimatic improvements, the proposal seeks to extend the life of an existing piece of Saigon’s architectural heritage rather than reinvent it. Old and new remain clearly legible but complementary, creating a contemporary Maison de France rooted simultaneously in the history of the building, the tropical context of Ho Chi Minh City and the longstanding cultural relationship between France and Vietnam.