GroupGSA has appointed Thien Duong (pictured top) as the new Studio Leader of its Ho Chi Minh City office, as the practice looks to affirm its position in the region.

Canadian Vietnamese-born Duong will oversee more than 200 international urban design, architecture, landscape architecture and interior design experts and will work in close conjunction with the practice’s Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane studios.

Duong joins GroupGSA with nearly two decades of experience as an architect and master planner in Vietnam. A Director of the Vietnam Green Building Council, Duong is also a Chartered Architect with the Royal Institute of British Architects having lived and worked in the United Kingdom before returning to Vietnam. The new studio leader has overseen various hospitality and high-end residential and commercial projects over the last 25 years.

Duong likens Vietnam to a sleeping tiger, which is bursting with opportunity for potential development.

“If you look at its cities, Vietnam is about 10 percent developed compared to other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia or even Thailand,” he says. 

“Vietnam has a growing middle class with a young, educated and very hard-working population. Of the 100 million people in Vietnam, more than 74 percent are of working age.”

Thien says foreign investment is booming, with Vietnam primed to take advantage.

“It's a very exciting outlook and one that excites me. Within our lifetime, with the enormous scale of developments required, I believe Vietnam is one of the places that needs culturally thoughtful architecture and innovative sustainable designs.”

GroupGSA Director Lisa-Maree Carrigan says the changes herald an investment in growth and diversity for the firm, as it looks to reposition itself as a global practice in Vietnam.

“With Thien leading our studio in Vietnam, we will realign our operations as a true global practice to leverage our global expertise in a new era of growth,” she says.

“It's an exciting next-step for our practice that aims to enhance the collaboration and engagement of our global experts with local intelligence and nuance for the benefit of Vietnam projects.”

Sam Tran will head to the Ho Chi Minh studio as an Associate Director, who previously trained as an architect at the practice’s Sydney studio in 2016-2018. Martin Nguyen will also lead the studio’s Landscape Architecture team.

“Sam knew that we had a Vietnam studio and wanted to join a practice where he could rise and go back and make a positive contribution in his home country of Vietnam,” Carrigan says. 

“We are thrilled to announce Sam is returning to GroupGSA under the new leadership.”

Establishing its presence in Vietnam in 2014, GroupGSA has amassed an impressive portfolio of large-scale, market-leading hotels and condominiums, as well as premium residential, hospitality and education design projects. It now employs more than 50 staff at its Vietnam studio.

For more info, visit groupgsa.com.