CSR Portrait n°19: T3 ARCHITECTS

1. Can you explain your activity in a few words?

T3 Architects activity is to Design Buildings with a true sustainable approach, it means taking in consideration local climatic conditions (bioclimatic principles), promoting local resources (geo-sourced, bio-sourced or locally sourced), bringing innovation but following a Low-Tech approach, and pushing for materials without chemical or plastic (air quality, wellness).

T3 first intention being always to preserve the natural environment (preserving trees and plants to bring freshness and get more biodiversity, keeping or recovering the permeability of the soil to fight against flooding, saving energy by reducing the need of Air Conditioning.

With KANOPYA LIVING, we deliver high-end and truly sustainable Lodges, deliverable in KIT (prefabrication in Saigon) for the Eco-Chic Hospitality industry Worldwide.

2. Have you already implemented a social or environmental project in your company? Or do you have a sustainable development policy?

Most of T3 Architects projects are environmental friendly. We recently published 2 interesting sustainable projects, all very different:

• Hippo Farm Sustainable Dormitories (Binh Hao) to welcome International School for Countryside stay: Bioclimatic Design, use of rice husk for roof insulation, lime plastering on walls (no cement), dry toilets, no AC (cross ventilation), wood and bamboo partitions….
• Dreamplex Flexi-Garden Office Building in Thao Dien: Double ventilated façade made in Bamboo (to bring more comfort and save energy), no AC for common areas (natural ventilation, garden and ceiling fans), solid wood furniture (no mdf or chemicals)

And all our new projects (Villas in Ho Tram, new Office buildings, EcoLodges, Eco-Resort…) are focusing on a sustainable and Frugal approach and a high respect of the contractors involved in our project: no commission, no pressure, awareness about sustainable construction.

Kanopya Lodges are probably the most ecological Lodges you can find on the luxury segment market. Our lodges are made from 100% FSC timber, we divided energy consumption by 4 compare to the average of the 5* Resorts in Vietnam, very low footprint on site, low carbon footprint….

3. What is your next step?

• Impose tour Clients energy efficiency engineers in all our project to really optimize energy consumption, which highly participate to the Global warming.
• Create an Eco-Construction network in South Vietnam and Cambodia through our group Happy and Creative Frugality, a movement born in France that revolutionizes the Act of Building, by doing More with Less…. More human collective intelligence (rather than artificial intelligence), less carbon impact for the World!

4. What type of advice would you give to other companies in Vietnam to launch a CSR project?

Having a strong Ethic in business is the first step to bring real Social Responsibility for your enterprise. It means select properly your client first (be able to refuse contract of the client is not “clean”) and select properly your project (refuse to work on a project which is not beneficial for the general interest of the country on the long term…).