Alexandra van der Essen

Documenting modernist architecture with a focus on Southern Vietnam.

My research has been presented at Harvard GSD and DOCOMOMO International (2026), and published in the proceedings of the UIA World Congress of Architects (2026). My writing and photography have appeared in Wallpaper*, Saigoneer, L’Officiel Vietnam, C20 Society and The Modernist.

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Modernist house with geometric tile facade above a walled entrance and chain-link fence, with a Vietnamese pedestrian walking past

Writings

Southern Vietnamese Modernism

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Photography

Southern Vietnamese Modernism

Southern Vietnamese yellow modernist shophouse with brise-soleil, street art graffiti, Ho Chi Minh City
A random street in Ho Chi Minh City, District 9
Weathered modernist Vietnamese shophouse with cantilevered balconies and vertical fin details above a street-level shop, Ho Chi Minh City
Modernist shophouses in Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City
Tropical modernist architecture with brise-soleil screen, Mekong Delta Vietnam
A random street in Ho Chi Minh City, District 9

Brutalism

Brutalist residential tower at the Barbican Estate in London, showcasing rough-textured concrete, sculptural balconies, and modular vertical geometry
The grand Barbican Estate residential complex, London
Bibliothèque des Sciences, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium A brutalist library in Louvain-la-Neuve, showcasing bold architectural angles in concrete.
Bibliothèque des Sciences, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Alexandra Road Estate, London A housing estate in London designed with brutalist architectural principles, featuring tiered layouts and raw concrete details.
Alexandra Road’s brutalist housing estate, London

Contemplation

Rooftop pool with sculptural concrete forms at Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation, overlooking Marseille mountains at dusk
Sunset on the rooftop of La Cité Radieuse by Le Corbusier, Marseille
Rooftop pool and Brutalist concrete architecture at Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation in Marseille at dusk
Sunset on the rooftop of La Cité Radieuse by Le Corbusier, Marseille
Framed architectural view through layers of exposed concrete at the Barbican Estate, revealing windows, plants, and modular brutalist textures
Artificial concrete window at The Barbican, London
Brutalist courtyard at the Barbican Estate in London, with heavy concrete columns, soft reflections on wet brick pavement, and a glimpse of warm interior light
The grand Barbican Estate residential complex, London
Abandoned gas station on the outskirts of Gyeongju, South Korea, combining vernacular Korean roof forms with minimalist modernist structure and soft daylight
Abandoned gas station on the outskirts of Gyeongju, South Korea 경주시

Streets of Asia

Selling Apples in Chinatown, Bangkok (ถนนเยาวราช) A snapshot of street life in Chinatown, Bangkok, capturing a vendor selling apples between cars.
Selling apples between the cars. Chinatown, Bangkok. ถนนเยาวราช
Modernist shophouses in Bugis Street, Singapore, with pastel façades and spiral staircases creating rhythmic vertical patterns along a narrow pedestrian street
Swirling stairs in Bugis Street. Singapore
Street scene in Haebangchon, Seoul, showing a compact urban corner store beneath dense electrical lines and vibrant signage, contrasting human motion against static architecture
Work hard, walk hard. Haebangchon, Seoul. 해방촌
Neon-lit mosque in Châu Đốc, Vietnam, blending Islamic architectural motifs with local modernist concrete forms, illuminated by green fluorescent outlines at dusk
Neon-lit mosque for the Cham minorities. Châu Đốc, Vietnam
Modernist Christian church façade in Cần Thơ, Vietnam, framed by street activity and motorbikes, juxtaposing minimalist architecture with vivid urban motion and color harmony
Modernist church and lucky color coordination. Cần Thơ, Vietnam

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Another iconic Saigonese modernist shophouse, home to the Danti store. Most tourists have probably walked past it without a glance, since it sits right by Bến Thành market. But it’s worth stopping for: all thin concrete lines and exposed-aggregate đá rửa, elegant and delicate: simple lines that add up to something intricate. One of Saigon’s most iconic modernist shophouses, on Đường Hồng Bàng. One possible reading of the huge façade relief is a carp gazing at the moon’s reflection (lý ngư vọng nguyệt, 鯉魚望月), a motif known from Hàng Trống folk painting, a genre from Hanoi’s Old Quarter. The carp is usually read as a symbol of the aspiration to rise above hardship. Breeze blocks, and the hidden life that unfolds behind them. These perforated walls run the length of an apartment building on Nguyễn Thông in Saigon, where residents have turned a shared corridor into a greenhouse of potted plants and drying laundry, sparks of light falling on the leaves through the concrete. I usually post modernist buildings from Vietnam that have something that catches the eye. This time, I wanted to do the opposite: show the modest, uneventful shophouses. Four houses you’d walk past without noticing, and that is the point: they show how deep modernism got absorbed into the everyday in Vietnam, becoming a vernacular building habit. The interlocking lozenge is probably the motif I’ve come across the most in Vietnam. You see it on modernist villas, and it’s become so common you even see it on the wornout fences of gas stations. I saw it so often that I really wanted to find out what it meant. My first time exhibiting my photos is happening this week in Ho Chi Minh City! It’s called « Created by the People: Southern Vietnam’s Modernist Homes, » part of the Living Exhibition at the Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design @vfcd.events, organized by @rmituniversityvietnam In 2025, Highlands Coffee converted a mid-century modernist villa by Nguyễn Văn Hoa, on Hoàng Văn Thụ, into its first drive-thru (photos 1–2). The mosques of Châu Đốc, Vietnam. Taking a small break from modernist architecture to share one of my favorite stops in Vietnam: Châu Đốc, a city in the Mekong Delta near the Cambodian border (thanks to @worldwildbrice for the tip on his blog!). It’s home to a Cham community, an ethnic minority whose ancestors were Hindu before converting to Islam. I loved the improbable mix of it all: you reach these mosques by riding past floating villages, and at night they light up in neon lights. #vietnam #cham #mosque #chaudoc In Tuy Hòa, the same pattern keeps appearing across shophouses: a rectangular motif stitched together in concrete, running along balustrades and parapets. It seems quite simple and modular, which perhaps explains why I found it so widely across the city, and in surrounding towns too.