The DIY intervention for old apartment buildings in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam as a tool for repurposing, revitalizing and promoting local community’s sense of place

Ho Chi Minh City has more than 500 apartment buildings that were constructed before 1975 whereas many of them are at their end-of-life stage. However, regardless of the downgrading conditions, the government’s plan to rebuild or reuse the buildings are constantly putting on hold due to the conflicts between local residents and the authority. Local communities instead choose to transform the apartment blocks for economic purpose which acts a temporary solution. The soc-called “guerrilla” design intervention takes place ranging from changing the spatial layout to adding new functions as well as extensions to the individual units. This temporary and bottom-up approach have a positive impact on one’s sense of place and identity. This paper presents the statistical data regarding the implication of this emerging trend as well as it’s influence on one’s sense of place and identity.

• File upload: The practice of do it yourself architecture in Ho Chi Minh City-db8a4356