A Mixed-Use Building Designed Around a Challenging Site
Located in the western area of West Lake, Hanoi, the TNV Coffee and Complex Building demonstrates how thoughtful design can transform site constraints into architectural opportunities. Housing three podium levels dedicated to coffee shops beneath rental apartments, the nine-storey development optimizes usable space while establishing a distinctive presence within the surrounding urban fabric.
Expressing the Diamond-Shaped Plot Through Architectural Form
The project’s defining characteristic originates from its unusual diagonal corner site. Inspired by the symmetrical, diamond-like geometry of the land, the architects translated the site’s beveled perimeter directly into the building envelope. Stacked floor slabs emphasize strong horizontal lines across the façade, creating a bold architectural identity while maximizing visibility from multiple street approaches. This geometric expression transforms a difficult plot into a memorable landmark that strengthens the relationship between architecture, urban context, and spatial efficiency.
▎On the 3 floors of the podium, the floor slabs spread out to form the balconies, providing ideal space for the coffee shop’s customers with wide opening views and green screens. On the upper floors, the floor slab borders act as horizontal paths that link and unify the opening and closing elements on the facade, which are systems of glass walls, loggias, and brick walls covering the space inside the apartment block.
▎The concrete floor slabs define the appearance of this building both from inside and outside. On all floors, the main interior spaces are located under a large, flat, rough concrete ceiling with recessed beams, creating spacious and rustic beauty while optimizing space for the building’s limited height.
▎To accentuate the sturdy shape of the building, a system of wooden units with an acute angular form is scattered across the entire facade. On the lower floors, these wooden boxes enclose a system of inclined columns responsible for helping to hang the balcony. With the apartment block floors above, these wooden boxes act as decorative niches for the main spaces of the apartment, with the glass bottom absorbing light from the outside. This beveled wooden box system resonates with the outline of the floor slabs, creating a strong and unique feature on the building’s facade.
▎With this design approach, we have solved the biggest challenge of the project, which is to optimize the usable area on a diagonal land shape with sharp corners while ensuring an interesting architecture and interior for the building. The project has now become a unique architectural feature of the local area.
