Zenboté house by Anne Sémonin

Inner and outer of the space

Located in the lively cityscape about 500m southwest of the Reunification Memorial Hall,

this is the first concept store of Zenboté come from Canada.

When we started designing, we understood that Zenboté’s Zen is a Buddhism Zen.

Zen’s basic concept is to gain peace of mind by looking inside of the mind through the practice of zazen/sitting meditation.

Zenboté’s philosophy is “Zen inner, Belle outer”.

Belle means Beauty in French. It has same meaning with Bote.

This is exactly the Zen philosophy itself, and Zenboté creates true beauty from the inside of oneself through its products and services.

While creating this space, we wanted to express this concept in our design.

The things that people can see in the surface of the space is called the outer. It is made of various material.

We also tried to use natural materials such as bamboo in original form.

In addition, we consider that the inner of this space has own power and it makes the space more beautiful.

This power is from the volume of the space, the proportion of light, the mutual connection, the flow, the contrast, the relationship, etc.

It isn’t the thing that people can see, it is felt by five senses.

By the mutual combination of the inner and the outer of this space, we hope the time people stay here can bring them peace of mind.

Information:

Location: Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Area：150 m²

Architects in charge：Takeda Seijiro, Dao Minh Ngoc, Tran Thi Thu, Lai Thi Ngoc Anh

Photographer: Do Van Sy