Phong Vu Le

Master of Architecture & Urban Design

I am an urban designer / architect from Vietnam, who used to work as a Concept Designer for various urban planning and hospitality projects in Southeast Asia. During nearly three years of professional practice, I have been given opportunities to work with top designers / stakeholders in the region and to take part in high-class projects which has achieved prominent awards. Specifically, one of our recent developments – Le Meridien Cam Ranh Bay was rewarded The Best Universal Design Development 2018 by Vietnam Property Awards, in which I worked as a general landscape and lighting concept designer. This project has been published on Kien A Corp.’s website, who is the project developer (https://www.kiena.vn/vi-vn/le-meridien-cam-ranh-bay-resort- spa).

Throughout my studying and working, I have been interested in exploring human insightful feelings about the places and the beauty of social cultures in relationship with spatial organising, I have always been trying to illustrate the regionally cultural traits in my work, which, I believe, do contribute and increase the social and humanise quality of architectural and urban design. Once again, in my master final project, using the site’s unique functional characteristic as the core for a user-led design process, the project studied about the psychological aspect of the users and proposed a better public space design to suite the introverts.

With my ability and interest, I believe after finishing Master of Architecture and Urban Design program, I can continue developing a practical and efficient method for a novel culture-led and user-focus design workflow, which can be applied in the context of countries with diverse culture and tradition, especially Australia, for a better and more sustainable future.

Final Master of Architecture Project: The Mindfulness Sanctuary

Le Meridien Cam Ranh Resort - Best Universal Design Development

Lac Thuy Meditation Resort

Urban Design for Nui Sam Junction - Best Final Project

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.