THINKING OF THE FEASIBILITY OF THE IDEA
Talking about interior design in Vietnam, one thinks of TTT. When did you start to establish your reputation in this field?
TTT was established in 1992 and had no orientation then. Housing, offices, hotels, restaurants, and showrooms have all been taken for design. In 1994-1995, many foreign companies entered into Vietnam and the demand for offices became urgent. Then, an Australian designer, a friend of TTT, was offered to design some foreign offices in the first office building of HCM City at 06 Nguyen Hue Street but he was not able to do it. Our team joined and cooperated with him. Whereby, TTT realized a large market of office interior design. And we turned to focus more on this field.
What do you think office interior design is different from other designs like housing and villages?
In Vietnam, building a house is usually a work done only once in one’s life time. Stable and sustainable values are required. It is contrary to offices. One wants to have access to the latest and state-of-the-art model of working space that needs to exist only within more or less five years. Then one can change it, and with the business development, the office should be expanded. Alternatively, when business turns to another direction and staff changes, the office space should change. Accordingly, the office interior is dynamic, while housing seems to be static. Time is a matter. Sometimes a client requires design and implementation should be done within a week for a new office opening, we have to meet their need. Another difference is the art system. With office interior design, the art system requires a lot of things serving the work, including lighting system, electric system for equipment, and so on. Therefore, designers should have a great command of techniques to have good designs.
How does your company mobilize to adjust to the trend of office design and organization in Vietnam for recent time?
Previously, our offices were in the form of the state office, in which one was separated from one another. This model splits the space into cells by department. By 1990s when foreign companies have invested into Vietnam, they brought a new, open model. How does an open office look like? What are its advantages and disadvantages? How is its furniture to be acommodated with this kind of office? All we have been learning by doing.
Do you think that open office now is still a main trend?
Yes. While the 1980s in Vietnam still witnessed the separated state offices, the model of open office has come out since 1910s. It is lately introduced in Vietnam but rapidly absorbed, because foreign offices in Vietnam want to be designed as same as theirs at their home country. For example, they focus on other employees’ needs such as the relaxation space or mini bar, where they themselves can make coffee, sipping it and discussing about work. This space is often large and luxuriously designed.
A new trend coming out in the world is the green office using energy-saving equipment, natural light, environment-friendly cooling equipment, and reusable supplies with specific regulations. An office must meet certain criteria to be issued license. And its rental is also very high. Currently Vietnam cannot afford to apply this model, since the investment cost of a green office is very high, probably a half higher than the current cost. Furthermore, a building must have been qualified as a green architecture design before its office interior qualification. Hence, Vietnamese investors are hesitating to take risk, esp. in the current economic conditions.
How does the company face with the current design situation?
We devise several scenarios for various circumstances. I suppose that the field of office design is not much pessimism. When the economic conditions turn bad, clients would cut back expenditures in many ways including shrinking their office space. Then, they also have to call for office interior companies. Or, to reduce the office rental, they would move from high-rate offices to low-rate ones, and again, they would need us for new office interior design. Hence, if having no big projects, we would have smaller ones to be viable.
What do you envision about the demand for office in Vietnam in the next 10 or 15 years?
I think, the foreign investment in Vietnam would increase sharply. The market of office interior design is still big.
Having instructed many graduated university students working for TTT, what do you comment about the young designers?
Last year, I came to an exhibition by graduated students in interior, graphics, industrial arts, and fashion of HCMC Architecture University. I find that interior students have access quite closely to the world level. We may not have caught up with them in terms of implementation and application of new materials, but we are pretty good at idea creation.
Interior designers graduated from HCMC Architecture University working for TTT are further trained in 3D, envisioning 3D space on plane drawing. Working as office designers, they are more technically trained in electricity, water, cooling, and air conditioning systems. With office interior, the technical part effects a lot on design. And that is what they still lack.
What do you consider the most important given more than 20 years of experiences?
The first is the idea. When I was still in the university, instructors usually said architect should create something different. Make difference from small to big things. A birthday card you make should be different from that sold in the market. Second, technical knowledge is required to transform ideas to realities. An artist may imagine and draw everything on his/her work, but an architect should think of its feasibility. An architect’s product is a feasible idea.
Then, what do you recommend to young architecture students?
Architecture requires two things from students – ideas to be created and technical knowledge to transform ideas to realities. You should think carefully whether you have followed the right profession. If you don’t have enough two above things, you should turn into either art or technique. You will be successful.
At present, a few companies or groups of designers have been grown up from TTT, they regard TTT as a good trainer!
We have a few training courses every year. I don’t like to hide the trade. As colleagues and seniors, we should share both knowledge and experiences. Hence, they learn a lot from me and TTT.
Aren’t you concerned if they may become you competitors some day?
Some have become our competitors. But I think working without rivalry does not make progress. With competitors, we must learn more and always find new things, and hence, not be inert.
Architect TRAN KHANH TRUNG - Design Director of TTT Architects