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The New Vung Tau Skyline: Redesigning Vietnam's Coastline for Resilience and Urban Life
The New Vung Tau Skyline: Redesigning Vietnam's Coastline for Resilience and Urban Life
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Other Projects by TAMA Architecture Paris
The New Vung Tau Skyline: Redesigning Vietnam's Coastline for Resilience and Urban Life
STATUS
Under Construction
SIZE
1,000,000 +
Redesigning a 78-Hectare Coastline for Resilience, Beauty, and Urban Life
Project: Bai Sau Thuy Van New Waterfront Location: Vung Tau, Southern Vietnam Scale: 3.2 km of coastline - 77.9 hectares Status: Under construction Architect: Chi Tam Nguyen - TAMA Architecture Paris
A Sleeping Beauty, Awakened
Vung Tau is unlike any other coastal city in Vietnam. Nestled on a peninsula where mountains meet the sea, it carries a rare layered identity - French colonial heritage, rich local culture, and one of the longest beaches in the country. Yet for decades, Bai Sau beach remained underleveraged: its waterfront chaotic, its coastline eroding, its potential unrealised.
This project is its renaissance.
Covering 77.9 hectares and 3.2 kilometres of seafront along the iconic Thuy Van street, the Bai Sau Integrated Masterplan is one of the largest urban waterfront redesigns ever undertaken in Vietnam. Currently under construction, it transforms a fragmented shoreline into a coherent, green, and resilient urban destination - one that serves both the residents of Vung Tau and the millions of visitors arriving from Ho Chi Minh City, just 90 minutes away.
Four Ideas That Shape the Project
The masterplan is built around four interconnected ambitions:
A new urban centre. Bai Sau becomes the beating heart of Vung Tau - its skyline, its esplanade, and its promenade redefining the city's identity between sea and mountain. The Thuy Van street, redesigned as a grand ocean boulevard, aspires to the civic grandeur of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
Vietnam's largest public esplanade. At the heart of the waterfront, a 15,000 m² civic plaza opens directly onto the ocean - designed for festivals, concerts, night markets, and fireworks. A central monument will mark the symbolic rebirth of Bai Sau and will offer visitors the sensation of walking between sky and waves.
A resilient beach. Climate change and coastal erosion are direct threats to Vung Tau's future. The project responds with a suite of passive ecological strategies: a reshaped beach curve to optimise tidal flushing and natural self-cleaning; a two-level stepped seawall (1.4 m and 2 m) designed to absorb wave energy during storms; a buffer zone of sea marsh plants and ground-cover vegetation that traps sediment and rebuilds eroded sand; and a 2.2 km unified coastal dike securing the entire perimeter. Coconut trees and shade trees anchor the dunes and create natural cooling. The result is a beach that is simultaneously more beautiful and more resistant.
A landmark identity. A central monument will anchor the esplanade and give Bai Sau a new civic symbol - a recognisable marker for the city's future.
The Waterfront Programme: Four Zones
The 3.2 km seafront is organised into four distinct but connected zones, each with its own character.
Zone I & II - Gastronomic Villages. Two culinary clusters anchored the northern and southern ends of the promenade. The pavilion architecture draws from vernacular tropical tradition - palm-leaf roofing for natural insulation, structures oriented perpendicular to the sea (maximum 9 m wide, 6 m tall) to preserve full visual porosity toward the horizon. Beneath each zone, underground car parks (1,200 spaces each) liberate the surface entirely for pedestrians, gardens, and open air.
Zone III - The Grand Esplanade. The civic and symbolic centrepiece. 15,000 m² of open public space facing the ocean, programmed for major events and everyday life alike. The central monument is the architectural highlight: a structure that makes the boundary between city and ocean disappear. Underground, Parking C provides 1,900 spaces, keeping the surface free of vehicles entirely.
Zone IV - Beach Clubs and Leisure. A modern "riviera" of integrated beach clubs lines the southern waterfront. Two-level structures (one underground, one at grade) adopt organic and biomimetic architectural forms - no walls, no fences. Public pathways of 4 m width guarantee permanent open access to the sea. Technical infrastructure is buried underground, leaving the visible surface fully dedicated to nature and leisure.
A Sustainable Urbanism: The Interior Zone
Beyond the beach, the masterplan reorganises the entire urban fabric along Thuy Van street. Wider pavements, more shade trees, and a new height regulation create a coherent and legible skyline: taller landmark towers on large plots, lower buildings on smaller plots, all set back 4 m from the street and oriented at 45° to preserve sea views. Ground floors are activated with generous commercial plinths. The architecture language is contemporary, light-filled, and clean - designed to age well under the tropical sun.
Underground pedestrian passages connect the city to the seafront beneath the busy Thuy Van street, making the transition from urban neighbourhood to beach seamless and safe.
Designing with Nature, Not Against It
What drives this project is a conviction that coastlines are not passive surfaces to be built upon - they are living systems to be worked with. Every design decision at Bai Sau was tested against this question: does this strengthen or weaken the beach's natural resilience?
The reshaped beach curve is not aesthetic - it improves tidal hydraulics. The sea marsh plants are not decoration - they rebuild sediment. The stepped seawall is not infrastructure - it is a landscape element that absorbs energy, creates habitat, and remains beautiful. The open "island" concept governing new buildings - unobstructed views, dominant wind corridors, generous sunlight for all - treats light, air, and sea views as public goods, not private privileges.
When I began working on Bai Sau, I was struck by its beauty and equally alarmed by its vulnerability. Vietnam is on the front line of climate change: storms intensify, sea levels rise, and poorly planned development weakens the natural defences that beaches have built over centuries. Intervening here felt like a responsibility - to the place, to its ecology, and to the hundreds of thousands of people who will use it for generations.
The new Bai Sau does not try to freeze the coastline in place. It tries to give it the intelligence to evolve - to absorb, to adapt, to endure. That, for me, is what resilient urbanism means in practice.
A Project in Numbers
Total area 77.9 hectares
Waterfront length 3.2 km
Central esplanade 15,000 m²
Underground parking 4,300 spaces across 3 zones
Coastal dike 2.2 km unified seawall
Status Under construction
Looking Forward
Bai Sau is not just a beach project. It is a statement about what a Vietnamese coastal city can become - open, green, civic, and climate-ready. It connects Vung Tau to its natural landscape rather than turning its back on it. And it offers a model for how fast-growing cities across Southeast Asia might rethink their waterfronts: not as real estate opportunities, but as shared ecological and cultural assets.
The architecture sings when it listens to the place. Here, we tried to listen.
Chi Tam Nguyen is a French architect DPLG and founder of TAMA Architecture Paris. He previously founded TAMA Architects in Hanoi (2015–2023), where this project was conceived and developed. → tama-architecture-paris.fr
Project: Bai Sau Thuy Van New Waterfront Location: Vung Tau, Southern Vietnam Scale: 3.2 km of coastline - 77.9 hectares Status: Under construction Architect: Chi Tam Nguyen - TAMA Architecture Paris
A Sleeping Beauty, Awakened
Vung Tau is unlike any other coastal city in Vietnam. Nestled on a peninsula where mountains meet the sea, it carries a rare layered identity - French colonial heritage, rich local culture, and one of the longest beaches in the country. Yet for decades, Bai Sau beach remained underleveraged: its waterfront chaotic, its coastline eroding, its potential unrealised.
This project is its renaissance.
Covering 77.9 hectares and 3.2 kilometres of seafront along the iconic Thuy Van street, the Bai Sau Integrated Masterplan is one of the largest urban waterfront redesigns ever undertaken in Vietnam. Currently under construction, it transforms a fragmented shoreline into a coherent, green, and resilient urban destination - one that serves both the residents of Vung Tau and the millions of visitors arriving from Ho Chi Minh City, just 90 minutes away.
Four Ideas That Shape the Project
The masterplan is built around four interconnected ambitions:
A new urban centre. Bai Sau becomes the beating heart of Vung Tau - its skyline, its esplanade, and its promenade redefining the city's identity between sea and mountain. The Thuy Van street, redesigned as a grand ocean boulevard, aspires to the civic grandeur of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
Vietnam's largest public esplanade. At the heart of the waterfront, a 15,000 m² civic plaza opens directly onto the ocean - designed for festivals, concerts, night markets, and fireworks. A central monument will mark the symbolic rebirth of Bai Sau and will offer visitors the sensation of walking between sky and waves.
A resilient beach. Climate change and coastal erosion are direct threats to Vung Tau's future. The project responds with a suite of passive ecological strategies: a reshaped beach curve to optimise tidal flushing and natural self-cleaning; a two-level stepped seawall (1.4 m and 2 m) designed to absorb wave energy during storms; a buffer zone of sea marsh plants and ground-cover vegetation that traps sediment and rebuilds eroded sand; and a 2.2 km unified coastal dike securing the entire perimeter. Coconut trees and shade trees anchor the dunes and create natural cooling. The result is a beach that is simultaneously more beautiful and more resistant.
A landmark identity. A central monument will anchor the esplanade and give Bai Sau a new civic symbol - a recognisable marker for the city's future.
The Waterfront Programme: Four Zones
The 3.2 km seafront is organised into four distinct but connected zones, each with its own character.
Zone I & II - Gastronomic Villages. Two culinary clusters anchored the northern and southern ends of the promenade. The pavilion architecture draws from vernacular tropical tradition - palm-leaf roofing for natural insulation, structures oriented perpendicular to the sea (maximum 9 m wide, 6 m tall) to preserve full visual porosity toward the horizon. Beneath each zone, underground car parks (1,200 spaces each) liberate the surface entirely for pedestrians, gardens, and open air.
Zone III - The Grand Esplanade. The civic and symbolic centrepiece. 15,000 m² of open public space facing the ocean, programmed for major events and everyday life alike. The central monument is the architectural highlight: a structure that makes the boundary between city and ocean disappear. Underground, Parking C provides 1,900 spaces, keeping the surface free of vehicles entirely.
Zone IV - Beach Clubs and Leisure. A modern "riviera" of integrated beach clubs lines the southern waterfront. Two-level structures (one underground, one at grade) adopt organic and biomimetic architectural forms - no walls, no fences. Public pathways of 4 m width guarantee permanent open access to the sea. Technical infrastructure is buried underground, leaving the visible surface fully dedicated to nature and leisure.
A Sustainable Urbanism: The Interior Zone
Beyond the beach, the masterplan reorganises the entire urban fabric along Thuy Van street. Wider pavements, more shade trees, and a new height regulation create a coherent and legible skyline: taller landmark towers on large plots, lower buildings on smaller plots, all set back 4 m from the street and oriented at 45° to preserve sea views. Ground floors are activated with generous commercial plinths. The architecture language is contemporary, light-filled, and clean - designed to age well under the tropical sun.
Underground pedestrian passages connect the city to the seafront beneath the busy Thuy Van street, making the transition from urban neighbourhood to beach seamless and safe.
Designing with Nature, Not Against It
What drives this project is a conviction that coastlines are not passive surfaces to be built upon - they are living systems to be worked with. Every design decision at Bai Sau was tested against this question: does this strengthen or weaken the beach's natural resilience?
The reshaped beach curve is not aesthetic - it improves tidal hydraulics. The sea marsh plants are not decoration - they rebuild sediment. The stepped seawall is not infrastructure - it is a landscape element that absorbs energy, creates habitat, and remains beautiful. The open "island" concept governing new buildings - unobstructed views, dominant wind corridors, generous sunlight for all - treats light, air, and sea views as public goods, not private privileges.
When I began working on Bai Sau, I was struck by its beauty and equally alarmed by its vulnerability. Vietnam is on the front line of climate change: storms intensify, sea levels rise, and poorly planned development weakens the natural defences that beaches have built over centuries. Intervening here felt like a responsibility - to the place, to its ecology, and to the hundreds of thousands of people who will use it for generations.
The new Bai Sau does not try to freeze the coastline in place. It tries to give it the intelligence to evolve - to absorb, to adapt, to endure. That, for me, is what resilient urbanism means in practice.
A Project in Numbers
Total area 77.9 hectares
Waterfront length 3.2 km
Central esplanade 15,000 m²
Underground parking 4,300 spaces across 3 zones
Coastal dike 2.2 km unified seawall
Status Under construction
Looking Forward
Bai Sau is not just a beach project. It is a statement about what a Vietnamese coastal city can become - open, green, civic, and climate-ready. It connects Vung Tau to its natural landscape rather than turning its back on it. And it offers a model for how fast-growing cities across Southeast Asia might rethink their waterfronts: not as real estate opportunities, but as shared ecological and cultural assets.
The architecture sings when it listens to the place. Here, we tried to listen.
Chi Tam Nguyen is a French architect DPLG and founder of TAMA Architecture Paris. He previously founded TAMA Architects in Hanoi (2015–2023), where this project was conceived and developed. → tama-architecture-paris.fr
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