On September 24, 2025, at Pullman Saigon Centre Hotel, 148 Tran Hung Dao, Cau Ong Lanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, the 17th Architect Conference will take place with the theme Green Renovation, featuring both domestic and international speakers. The event promises to bring many insightful discussions.
Recently, the Government’s administrative reform program, implemented in 2025, has significantly transformed the country. The number of provinces has been reduced by nearly half, with more than 700 districts and over 10,000 wards and communes merged, leaving only about one-third. Alongside several hundred thousand redundant civil servants, there are now over 10,000 surplus government buildings – a substantial figure. These buildings cannot simply be demolished, as doing so would waste enormous social resources. The best solution is to renovate, upgrade, and repurpose them for other functions suitable to each locality.
The Vietnamese Government is pursuing a green growth strategy, with the commitment to achieve Net Zero Carbon (NZC) by 2050, as pledged by the Prime Minister at COP26-2021. To reach NZC-2050, the construction industry must ensure that not only new buildings meet sustainable and Net Zero standards but also existing structures are transformed into green buildings.
This conference will be an opportunity for experts and participants to call for the conversion of over 10,000 surplus government buildings into green buildings, in line with the government’s green growth strategy, precisely the essence of the theme Green Renovation.
The conference will open with Dr. Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son, who will provide an overview of Ho Chi Minh City after its merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, emphasizing the need to adjust urban planning for a true megacity. He will highlight the necessity of redefining development directions in line with the new provincial structure, preparing to address new challenges. This involves selecting which ongoing projects to accelerate, which to halt, and ensuring all planning adjustments align with the strategic orientation of sustainable development.
Next, Mr. Lim Yew Meng, a Senior Advisor from AGC Asia Pacific, will share how the world approaches building renovation under the principles of the circular economy. Instead of demolition and rebuilding, or ad hoc modifications, renovation must begin with a Circularity Audit, evaluating existing materials to determine which elements can be reused, recycled, or discarded, thereby maximizing material use and minimizing construction waste.
Ms. Luu Thi Thanh Mau from Phuc Khang Corporation will then provide perspectives from state management, discussing the types of government policies needed to incentivize green and sustainable renovations, helping existing buildings become progressively greener.
In the second session, Architect Nguyen Thanh Trung, Director of MILOU Studio Vietnam, will share a detailed case study: the renovation of the National Museum of Singapore into a green building, showcasing many innovative architectural solutions.
Finally, Mr. Thierry Roche, founder of Artelier Thierry Roche and Associates, an architect specializing in green buildings in France, will join online from Paris. He will present several real-life green renovation projects in France, sharing both impressive design solutions and new European perspectives on green renovation.
The theme GREEN RENOVATION will be further explored in the discussion session with the speakers, offering audiences new knowledge and perspectives on approaches to existing buildings requiring renovation. The Organizing Committee hopes that, beyond delivering green insights to the audience, the 17th Green Architecture Conference will serve as a voice and reminder from professionals to government policymakers, before surplus administrative buildings are renovated, so that society will benefit from more than 10,000 green renovation projects in the near future, aligned with sustainable development and the government’s green growth strategy approved since 2019.
To attend the Conference, kindly register at: https://forms.gle/5M8rKxBsSNBnnkrS7
For more information or support, please contact the Organizing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Green Architecture Club via Ms. Ly Thuy Huong (0918 009 240, clbktxtphcm@gmail.com).
© Vietnam Architecture Magazine
