Keeng Seafood Restaurant / BambuBuild

Architects: BambuBuild
Area: 400 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Hyroyuki Oki
Manufacturers: Bambubuild
Lead Architects: Tran Ba Tiep
Bamboo Construction: Bambubuild
Town: Long Thanh
Country: Vietnam

Keeng Seafood Restaurant, designed by BambuBuild in Long Thanh, Vietnam, is a restaurant complex featuring conference halls, private dining rooms, and a standout bamboo hall with a boat-shaped thatched roof supported by bamboo structures inspired by nipa palms. Accommodating up to 180 guests, the hall was designed to be visually striking, eco-friendly, and quickly constructed using “iron bamboo,” a durable local species. The architects used a hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) structure for its strength and aesthetic appeal, simplifying construction with straight bamboo poles. Trusses and purlins resolved roofing challenges, creating a layered roof highlighting bamboo’s potential in sustainable architecture.

Situated in the heart of Long Thanh, a bustling town experiencing rapid growth due to the construction of a major international airport in southern Vietnam, the restaurant complex includes conference halls, private dining rooms, a kitchen, restrooms, and a bamboo hall. The bamboo hall is distinguished by its gently curved, boat-shaped thatched roof, supported by bamboo structures inspired by nipa palms, a common riverside plant in southern Vietnam.

The bamboo hall’s ground floor plan is straightforward, with a capacity for up to 180 guests. It is strategically located for easy access and connects seamlessly to the annex house. The restaurant’s owner tasked the architects with creating a visually striking design that would serve as the complex’s centerpiece, emphasizing environmentally friendly materials and ensuring rapid construction.

To meet these requirements, bamboo was utilized for both structural and decorative elements of the building. The “solid bamboo” species, commonly known as “iron bamboo,” is popular in southern Vietnam for its exceptional stiffness and strength, making it suitable for construction. Traditionally, bamboo poles are used as posts, beams, or trusses with limited span capabilities. After exploring various structural options, the architects selected hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) surfaces due to their outstanding stiffness, ability to bear heavy loads, and resistance in all directions. This curved structural form is widely favored for roof designs due to its strength and visual appeal.

The bamboo hall incorporates numerous hypars, used as both ceilings and columns, all interconnected and interlocked to support the overhanging roof, which extends up to 4 meters at the gable ends. A hypar, a doubly-curved and doubly-ruled surface, is well-suited for construction with straight structural members. Building hypar structures with bamboo poles offers an ideal combination of functionality and efficiency. This approach allows curved surfaces to be created without bending the bamboo, enabling quick and straightforward construction while achieving exceptional stiffness and an aesthetically pleasing form.

The double curvature of the hypars presents a challenge for roofing with natural thatch, as one axis is convex while the other is concave. To address this, trusses and purlins were added to the concave side, simplifying the roof into sloped sections. This solution created a two-layer structural roof, enhancing the visual appeal of the ceiling while maintaining functionality. The bamboo structure is showcased in a striking manner, demonstrating the significant potential of combining bamboo with hypar designs. This approach highlights their efficiency and promise for future sustainable construction.