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District 1 is often called the Wall Street of Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam. But while it’s flush with sky-high office towers and buttoned-up banker types, there’s more to the neighborhood than meets the eye. Tucked in the folds of its contemporary, commercial façade are meandering back alleys, hidden markets, and historic relics of the city’s French colonial past. One of those spaces now belongs to Zorba, a film production company whose new headquarters occupies the upper floor of a two-story shophouse on Nguyễn Công Trứ Street, one of District 1’s oldest and busiest arteries.
Local architecture and design firm sgnhA transformed the 1,614-square-foot (150-square-meter) space into a conceptual bridge between Zorba’s building, and its brand—and the team did in all in just four months.
sgnhA co-founders and principal designers Nguyen Tran and Anh Nguyễn approached the space like archaeologists digging for artifacts. sgnhA’s goal for the space was to fuse newness and nostalgia. “We tried to create a space that feels familiar to local people—especially young people,” says Tran.
Before
When sgnhA found the shophouse for Zorba, it was dark and dirty, says Tran.
After
sgnhA installed sliding translucent polycarbonate panels that divide the space into distinct areas for different uses. “The client’s field is cinematography, so we wanted to create the concept of ‘scene,’” Tran says. “We use polycarbonate wave sheets to create a filter. We love the effect of looking at things through this layer.”
