In 2015 at Singapore Design Week, designer Gabriel Lichauco inaugurated the NewFolk brand that worked to explicitly showcase the emerging talents of the Philippine art scene. Ten years later, with No Boundaries by NewFolk, Lichauco yet again features the upcoming crop of innovative designers seeking to change the product design world today. Shown at Space […]
CP Vietnam Headquarters Merges A Nature and Office Park
CP Vietnam Headquarters combines nature with a typical office park to create an environmentally-friendly space not just for workers, but for the community. LJ-Group Landscape Architecture designed the whole area, with six architects working on the building and the landscape.
Found in Dong Nai province east of Ho Chi Minh City, it offers the community a mix of urban progress and a welcoming outdoorsy escape. For the architects and food company CP Vietnam, it represents their desire to find an innovative approach to built environments.
“[The] CP Vietnam Head Office landscaping project demonstrates a thoughtful and innovative approach to landscape design. By addressing the site’s specific challenges and creating a variety of outdoor spaces that promote wellness and community engagement, a new set of standards for sustainable and functional office environments is created,” the architects said.
Functional Offices and Public Spaces
CP Vietnam Headquarters’ landscape can be divided into three distinct zones: the nature park, the public space, and the workers’ retreat space. An office park with two buildings stands in the center of the three zones.
Most of the architects’ work for the headquarters focused on the landscape surrounding the two buildings. They envisioned the forest-like scenery to connect with the offices, providing transitionary points that allow workers to move seamlessly between environments. The choice of native plants came due to a desire to invite wildlife like birds to the forestry around it.
There’s a complexity to the creation of the environment around the office. They utilized an existing drain channel in the area to create a water current flow for the pond sites in the building. They also carefully planned the locations of different trees to serve different focuses, planting native decorative trees around the office, and fruit and shading trees closer to the park area.
The nature park’s most distinctive feature are the customized yellow hammocks littered across the trail. It gives visitors points where they can rest and enjoy the nature around them.
Meanwhile, the retreat space for workers contains a koi pond due to its importance in local culture. “These gatherings often involve employees and guests feeding the koi fish, which helps to strengthen community bonds and promote a peaceful work environment,” the architects noted.
Building a Spot for the Community
The third zone, which is the public space, gives the community the most benefit. This area was built with social and communal gatherings in mind, structured for formal and informal events or just general hanging out for everyone.
Its central area is the arrival plaza, a giant public space built close to one of the office buildings. The plaza contains wooden benches and planters filled with native plants. These comfy benches and planters can be moved depending on the crowd size.
A dining building exists next to the plaza. With two floors and a rooftop deck, they created this part with events and meetings in mind as it is able to accommodate large groups of people at one time. The rooftop deck includes an edible community garden, allowing residents to participate in the proliferation of nature in the urban environment.
Altogether, the combination of the three zones with the office park provides us an interesting blueprint for building communities in our cities. CP Vietnam Headquarters connects nature and industry together, erasing artificial barriers to create an environment made for the public’s needs.
Related reading: NICE Headquarters Brazil: Pivoting Towards Nature-Friendly Solutions
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