We are delighted to announce the launch of the new publication by Oro Editions, "Building Saigon South: Sustainable Lessons for a Livable Future." The book is written by John Lund Kriken, and Ellen Lou of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP— the internationally renowned architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firm— and Tim Culvahouse, Editor in Chief of the American Institute of Architects, California Council.

Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City’s district of Saigon South has been designed by SOM in collaboration with the Phu My Hung development group to maintain a modern, livable, human-scale and sustainable urban environment— a master plan accepted, imitated, and used as an example of sustainable development throughout Asia and the rest of the world.

"Building Saigon South" shares effective design solutions created for residents who represent a collective range of income levels, in an eco-positive public space, making for a civically and economically dynamic and vibrant district.

SOM’s master plan presents the overall vision and development framework to allow Saigon South function as a self-contained community. It also offers flexible planning principals to address a range of potential development scenarios in this flourishing Vietnamese City.

About the Author
John Lund Kriken FAIA is an architect and consulting partner at the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and a professor at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. He has served on the board of the San Francisco Art Commission during the tenure of three mayors, holding similar positions with the San Francisco Planning Commission, Intersection for the Arts, the Fort Mason Center, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR), the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (for thirty-five years), and the San Francisco chapter of the Greenbelt Alliance.

Tim Culvahouse is Editor-in-Chief of the American Institute of Architects, California Council and past chair of the board of the non-profit Public Architecture. He is the editor of The Tennessee Valley Authority: Design & Persuasion, published in 2007 by Princeton Architectural Press. His articles have appeared in a wide range of journals, including 306090, ANY, Art Papers, Design Book Review, Harvard Design Magazine, Modulus, Perspecta, Residential Architect, and World Architecture.

Ellen Lou is a licensed architect and certified city planner. She leads the Urban Design + Planning group for SOM's San Francisco office and has directed many world- renowned urban design and planning efforts in the United States. She has lectured and served as visiting instructor at MIT, Stanford University, North Dakota University, CA Academy of Arts, and UC Berkeley. She is a board member for San Francisco Urban Planning and Research, as well as San Jose Downtown Architecture Review Committee.

To learn more about the design work of SOM and the built urban environment of Vietnam's Saigon South, please visit:

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