[Photos] The Saigon Factory Whose Walls Are Made of Plants

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September 10, 2020

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Designed in a partnership between rollimarchini architekten and G8A Architects, this facility in an industrial park north of Saigon houses Jakob Rope Systems, a company specializes in steel rope production.

In their description of the project shared with Saigoneer, the designers note that many industrial buildings and parks in Vietnam are heavily polluting, while "the Jakob Factory proposal was seen as a unique opportunity...to propose an alternative to these detrimental practices, presenting a strategically land saving project with focus elements of passive design."

To achieve this, rollimarchini and G8A focused on a "vertical densification strategy," stacking functional areas atop each other on superimposed slates, instead of creating a sprawling horizontal structure.

And, in order to protect workers from the sun and rain, "taking reference from the traditional tropical architecture of the region, the design has developed with [a] porous facade devised as a lush plantation "skin," the suspended structure is supported by a two-layer rope network stretched from the ground to the roof."

These planters filter sunlight and rain, while also lowering the ambient temperature and functioning as air purifiers.

Take a look at the 30,000-square-meter Jakob Factory below: