Winner: Business building of the year 2019. This 40,000 square-foot campus in Hanoi, Vietnam contains both offices and a factory for Star Engineers.

The project by Indian architecture studio Studio VDGA explores the rustic and discreet material palette aligning the client requirements to the site context. The building has a simple concrete form with a long colourful perforated metal screen adorned with greenery. The setup of adjoining corporate office and factory spaces involves a series of courtyards interwoven with workspaces, which offer views of greenery and water. The building is divided into front and back bays. The front bay is connected to the factory floor, separated by a long brick wall, which also acts as the backdrop of the wooden reception desk. The cubicles and workspaces are partitioned using transparent glass, creating a sense that the spaces are interwoven whilst looking out onto the intermediate courtyards.

Judges comments: "Business buildings often have a worn-out approach but this project is creating an environment rather than just creating a box for people to work in. The typology we understand typically as ‘office building’ is challenged here.The sense of domesticity incorporated in a corporate setting is beneficial and innovative. Through layering, transparency and openness".

Architect: Studio VDGA
Project: Star Engineers Factory and Administrative Building
Winner of: Business building of the year