Global design expertise meets a more sophisticated Vietnam market

Freek Jansen, Southeast Asia regional manager at Dewan Architects. Photo: Dewan Architects

What makes Vietnam a strategic market?

Vietnam is entering a more mature stage of real estate and hospitality development. The market is increasingly focused on quality, differentiation and long-term value, rather than simply increasing supply. We see developers becoming more sophisticated in how they evaluate design, branding, operations and user experience. Vietnam also has strong fundamentals as a hospitality and tourism destination, together with rapidly developing urban centres and an increasingly diverse consumer base.

From Dewan's perspective, the opportunity is particularly interesting because the market is becoming more open to international standards while simultaneously placing greater value on local identity. This is exactly where we believe an international practice with strong regional engagement can contribute: bringing broader international experience while developing solutions that are suitable for the Vietnamese market.

What experience and standards from its international network can Dewan bring to this market?

Dewan is ranked fourth worldwide in hospitality, our international experience provides access to knowledge accumulated during over 40 years and across different hospitality, residential, and mixed-use markets. This includes experience with international hotel operators, design standards, guest experience, planning efficiency, sustainability strategies and the practical requirements of delivering large-scale projects.

However, we do not believe that international standards should be applied mechanically. The real value is in understanding why a standard exists, and then determining how it should be applied within the local climate, culture, regulations, construction environment and commercial model.

Sustainability is a good example. A sustainable solution should not simply look sustainable; it should reduce resource consumption, improve comfort and remain practical to operate and maintain over the life of the project and specially to design efficiently, where all constructed areas are used and no wasted areas or longer than required staff or guest journeys within the premises.

Ultimately, our role is to help investors make better design decisions that remain valuable beyond the opening day and operationally viable.

What are the specific characteristics of Vietnam that an international design firm needs to understand to create a project?

Vietnam has a very specific combination of climate, culture, development economics, construction practices and rapidly changing consumer expectations. Understanding the climate is particularly important because it affects everything from orientation and shading to façade performance, materials, landscape and maintenance. Cultural behaviours also matter, the way people use public spaces, restaurants, residential amenities and hospitality environments can differ significantly from assumptions made in other international markets.

At the same time, a designer needs to understand the practical development environment – budgets, procurement, local supply chains, construction capabilities and approval processes.

For us, local understanding means translating all these factors into design decisions that improve both the experience and the performance of the project.

Tell us about Dewan Architects’ ability to combine international experience with local expertise.

A good example is our work on TUI BLUE Han River in Danang, where the project had to balance the requirements of an international hospitality brand with the opportunities and constraints of its specific Vietnamese location. The design process required us to look beyond the visual expression of the building and consider climate, views, guest experience, operational flows and the relationship between the hotel and its urban context.

The project demonstrates our approach: international standards establish the quality benchmark, while local conditions determine how that benchmark is translated into the project.

This is particularly important in Vietnam because copying solutions from other markets can easily produce a technically correct project that does not feel appropriate or perform as effectively as it should locally.

Photo: Dewan Architects

How should Vietnamese investors change their perspective when choosing an international design consultancy firm?

We would encourage investors to look beyond whether a firm has an international name or portfolio. The more important question is what international experience can contribute to the performance of their project.

Investors should look at the firm's understanding of their sector, its ability to collaborate with operators and local consultants, its delivery experience, and whether the team understands the commercial objectives behind the project.

An international consultant should not make a project international simply by making it look international.

Our ambition for Dewan in Vietnam is to be seen as a long-term design partner: bringing international knowledge, challenging assumptions when necessary, understanding local realities and helping clients create projects that are both distinctive and commercially relevant.

Ultimately, raising standards should not mean making every project look the same. It means making each project better suited to its users, its location and its long-term purpose.

As Vietnam’s real estate market continues to mature, the ability to combine international expertise with local market understanding will become increasingly important. For investors, the focus is ultimately shifting beyond the appearance of a project towards how design can support its long-term value, performance and relevance to its market.

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