GF Design Group is providing architecture and interior design services for La BIBLIOTHÈQUE, a new children’s library in the historic center of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The project establishes a contemporary architectural dialogue with the existing General Sciences Library, a significant 1971 building designed by Vietnamese architects Bùi Quang Hanh and Nguyễn Hữu Thiện. Rather than replicating the existing structure, La BIBLIOTHÈQUE introduces a contrasting architectural language defined by transparency, fluidity, flexibility and a largely column-free structural system.
The building is organized around inhabitable structural and circulation cores that integrate structural support, stairs, lifts, building services, light wells, ventilation and wayfinding. Their clustered, branching configuration draws from the spatial character of a bamboo grove while allowing the primary learning floors to remain broad and adaptable. Curved floor edges, internal voids, open terraces and overlapping program zones create multiple circulation paths and visual connections throughout the building.
The learning environment integrates reading, science, technology, robotics, making, teaching, play and collaboration within continuous learning landscapes rather than conventional corridors and enclosed departments. The building’s massing is selectively carved along key urban and pedestrian sightlines to preserve views toward the existing library’s podium, tower and distinctive brise-soleil façade. The Knowledge Court, landscaped areas, outdoor reading spaces and elevated balconies further reinforce the relationship between the new and historic buildings, creating an adaptable civic learning landscape for future generations. The project is currently advancing through the permitting process with completion anticipated in the upcoming years.
