FGLA 2019 Winner: S Space

Made up of stark stonewalls, steel pipes (granted a second life from construction scaffolding) and bamboo, the S Space serves as an ‘open’ space for the community with a focus on culture and the arts. The project is located in a new emerging urban area with a high construction density in Dong Van town, Ha Nam province. The architects were inspired by the beauty of the national landscape of Kem Trong, situated between the two provinces of Ha Nam and Ninh Binh, where illegal rock mining is gradually turning the place to ruins.

As such, the S Space was constructed out of waste—rock debris from Kem Trong; discarded rocks from trade villages and construction sites—to express the nostalgia for the languishing natural ecosystem and the loss of rocky resources with historical value in Vietnam. The architects hope that this project will help raise the red flag on the unplanned exploitation of natural resources in Vietnam today.