Geometric forms and graphic terrazzo surfaces feature in this duplex apartment in Ho Chi Minh City that has been updated by Whale Design Lab.
Locally based studio Whale Design Lab revamped the formerly lacklustre interiors of the Mài Apartment to reflect the client's penchant for modernist architecture.
A particular point of reference was the work of hugely influential American architect Louis Kahn, whose imposing, monolithic buildings often feature geometric openings.

"Its owner is interested in ideas of modernist architecture about the form and its contextual transition from Western discourse to Vietnamese tropical living environment and material vernacular," the studio said.
"If these thoughts are applied to the design, how will they conflict and harmonize with the apartment format today ? a typical monotonous template found in gentrified urban development""
Unable to make any significant structural changes to the 200-square-metre floor plan, the studio instead decided to define different living areas using shapes ? in a nod to Kahn's architectural style.
All of the doorways and entryways to rooms in the apartment have been made arched in form.

A curved volume that juts out from the corner of the living area has then been punctuated with a huge porthole that glimpses through to the study on the apartment's upper level.
Directly underneath this volume lies the kitchen, where the splashback, countertop, breakfast island and floor has been craft...