Design Feature
The artist’ s turntable is located at the centre of the ground level. Visitors can observe the artist at work from the higher floors.
Award-winning architect builds Terra Cotta Studio in central Vietnam Vietnam’ s leading architect, Tropical Space, creates a work space in the middle of a village for renowned artist Le Duc Ha to create his clay sculptures. Photos by: Hiroyuki Oki
THE TERRA COTTA Studio— located beside the Thu Bon river about 12 km from Hoi An, a Unesco world heritage site in central Vietnam— is a unique architectural structure in the middle of a village. The Studio is the work space for renowned artist Le Duc Ha to create his masterpieces made from terra cotta. Thu Bon river is the lifeline for the local residents who depend on it not just for sustenance and agriculture but also for their traditional crafts of mat weaving and silk production.
The Studio is a cube-shaped building that has a space of sevenmetre square surrounded by a bamboo platform that is used for drying the terra cotta products. Across the interior are two benches for resting and tea breaks. There is also a raised platform which separates the studio
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The exterior facade of the Studio is created mostly from bricks, bamboo and wood.
Interior of the building with the wood-frame structure allowing for clay works to be displayed. and workshop areas.
The outermost layer of the studio is made with solid clay bricks, resembling a traditional Vietnamese furnace. The studio also borrows some design characteristics of the ancient Champa culture as this entire area was part of the Champa kingdom from the fourth to the seventh century. Bricks are stacked in an interleaved pattern with holes in between to allow for air circulation. While working, the artist Le can feel the wind and hear the sound of nature from the surrounding area.
The interior of the studio houses a wood-frame system across three-floors. This system has 60-centimetre-square modules comprising shelves for displaying artworks, a staircase, hallways and bench seats. The frame is seven-metre tall and visitors can walk along the hallway or climb up to the mezzanine to observe the people at work in the workshop and look out to the surrounding garden and nearby river. At the ground floor of the studio is a turntable for Le to work on his sculptures. Natural lighting is allowed in throughout the day and visitors can observe the artist working with light as one of his tools.
During the monsoon season, the river might overflow its banks and flooding is one of the major concerns for the architect. Hence, shelves are built on the higher decks for the artist to store his unfinished work should water seep into the studio. The terra cotta studio is designed to be an arts centre to attract lovers of clay handiworks both locally and from abroad. •
More information at www. khonggiannhietdoi. com