Vietnam’s population has grown rapidly from 66 million in 1990 to 98 million in 2022. This makes Vietnam the third-most populous country in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and the Philippines. The government is seeking ways to encourage developers to undertake more affordable housing projects to meet the housing needs of the city.

While affordable housing development is critical to alleviate the pressures on cities, de-signing and implementing these housing solutions across the country requires a lot of support from the government. The time is also now for architects, urban planners, and engineers to implement new design strategies for mass housing in Vietnam; it’s critical time to invest more significantly in exploring the new design model for Affordable Urban Housing in tropical Vietnam.

In that context, Manuel Der Hagopian and Nguyen Duy Tan from G8A Architects have launched the first studio of a series called Sustainable Urban Villages at Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City. The Studio proposed to explore new possibilities for Utopic Social Housing in the tropically dense Mekong Delta region. The first session has come to an end on this July 2023, with a batch of new typologies and urban forms. The student design proposals promote passive design solutions for low energy consumption and community spaces to live, play, work, and create together.