Runway at Rex Hotel by Massimiliano Locatelli | Locatelli Partners

The Rex Hotel, constructed in 1927 under French colonialism, became famous during the Vietnam war for hostin02g American military commanders and press correspondents. Massimiliano Locatelli and Anh Tran Thi Hoai, owner of Runway, have built a strong and sensitive collaboration. CLS architetti has been working on the project after developing the first three Runway stores in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.The new Runway store is a sort of a house in the house, using contrasts to create different spaces inside other spaces. It is revealed as a sequence of rooms, defined by ornamental arches, decorative gypsum panels on walls and ceilings with different themes based on vietnamese traditions. The project evokes an encounter between two worlds, one of rigorous architecture and the Vietnamise culture with its French influences. The white and ornamental spaces are broken by a strict and rough iron structure, which creates new volumes inside the depth. Linear brass poles and shelves define the store. This structure also breaks the flooring inside beams and pillars, from a concrete flooring to the wooden floor of the existing space.

The concept is supported by two opposing entities: inside the grid is new and modern, outside is traditional and local.  As a fil rouge, varying plaster casts are decomposed around the walls as a track.

Evokes Bruno Munari in his book, “Appendice of an Italian dictionary”, 1963. Runway at Rex Hotel is connected to the historical context surrounding the building. The project creates a true dialog between memories and contemporaneity. Past, Present and Future in the same universe.