Alexandra van der Essen

Documenting Asia’s modernist heritage, with a focus on Southern Vietnam

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articles & portfolio

My architectural essays & photography collections.

curation

A selection of architecture and street photography, from brutalism to Asian urban chaos.

Southern Vietnamese Modernism

Modernist residential façade in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9, showing tropical adaptation of concrete architecture with clean geometric lines and soft yellow tones
A random street in Ho Chi Minh City, District 9
Brutalist-inspired mixed-use building on Chợ Lớn’s main boulevard in Ho Chi Minh City, featuring layered balconies, sunshades, and dense tropical urban textures.
Main boulevard of Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City
Colorful modernist housing block in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, with rhythmic concrete details, deep balconies, and vernacular reinterpretations of postwar modernism
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

Sunset view from the rooftop of La Cité Radieuse in Marseille by Le Corbusier, highlighting the tiled paddling pool, horizontal concrete forms, and the interplay between brutalist geometry and Mediterranean landscape
Sunset on the rooftop of La Cité Radieuse by Le Corbusier, Marseille
Evening light over La Cité Radieuse rooftop by Le Corbusier in Marseille, with tiled pool and horizon geometry blending modernist architecture and Mediterranean landscape
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
Afternoon rain and dimed lights at The Barbican, 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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One of my favorite shophouses (located in Châu Đốc). The right-hand side is beautifully complex, I’ve never seen brise-soleils cut in such a way. What I’ve seen already though is the geometric shape above, with the three small lines underneath. I spotted it on a shophouse in Ho Chi Minh City, proof this architectural language travels quite far as these are located 200 km away. This shophouse (located in Châu Đốc) looks quite simple, but looking closer it has very intricate architectural elements, from how the brise-soleil is delicately cut, to the fine abstract geometric engravings across the façade. A simple villa in Vĩnh Long. It features the very typical vertical concrete fins that act as brise-soleils. But what I like about this one is the large decorative trapezoid on the top. It’s not a shape you see often in Vietnam, and adds a theatrical note to an otherwise restrained design. Can Tho University. I love how the bright blue zig-zag canopy transforms this otherwise simple modernist building into something pop—almost Memphis-style. Two blue modernist churches in Ho Chi Minh City. The General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City stands out for how its modernist form honors Vietnamese vernacular traditions. Its front columns descending directly into the water subtly evoke Mekong Delta stilt houses (2d picture) designed to withstand seasonal floods. Above, a thick, flat roof with gently up-curved eaves rests on exposed beams, reminiscent of traditional communal houses (Đình, 3d picture). This influence is unmistakable – not only in structure but also in spirit, as Đình have long served as gathering places for village communities. The library, likewise, servesas a popular breathing space for locals amid Ho Chi Minh’s hyper-dense urban fabric. This month, I had the pleasure of writing C20 Society’s Building of the Month feature. Thank you @c20society for the opportunity! My favorite institutional building in Vietnam: the General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City. #3 in my series on modernist architecture in the Southern Vietnamese countryside.