Observation and negotiation at the cultural shoreline Vietnam, rasquachismo and an architectural practice

This research results from my practices of photography and architecture in the rapidly changing cultural environment of Vietnam, a place where a local culture of localised systems of individual enterprise is being quickly displaced by a system of large multinational entities operating at global scale. I research in two ways: as a photographer observing and reflecting on the social and urban environment and as an architect negotiating responses to our design tasks and practice environment. The practices producing this research have highlighted three central issues: a culture supporting local systems of individual enterprises, an opportunistic approach to seeing and making, and my expanded role as a design professional.