Do Ba Vinh was born in Ha Dong, Vietnam, in 1919, and from the late 1930s to mid-1940s was a student at the Indochine School of Fine Arts, Hanoi (now Vietnam University of Fine Arts). He graduated in 1940 and became an architect, working initially in Hanoi but moving in the mid 1950s to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). In 1959, he travelled to the UK, enrolling as a student on the Architectural Association’s six-month, post-graduate, Department of Tropical Architecture course. Following his graduation, he returned to Vietnam and continued to practice in Saigon until the mid-1970s. Alongside his practice, Do Ba Vinh was also closely involved in architectural education, serving as Professor at the Saigon School of Architecture in the early 1970s and then, in the same capacity, in the late 1970s, after the name change to the University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City. Following the cessation of hostilities, Do Ba Vinh emigrated to Belgium, where he was to pass away in 2000. Amongst his most notable architectural works are the Xa Loi Pagoda, in Ho Chi Minh City (1958) and an expansion of the Saigon Central Court, together with the design and construction of the Giadinh Cancer Hospital and the Tandinh Housing Complex, both in Saigon.

We are very grateful to Professor Nguyen Ngoc Son, of the University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City, for the above information, and his work with the Heritage of the Saigon School of Architecture (HSSA) research programme and upcoming publication.

Sources

• Architectural Association Council Minutes Books, 22nd February, 1960, p401. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Membership List, 1961.
• Heritage of the Saigon School of Architecture (HSSA) research programme