The architecture in Da Nang, Vietnam, and the rest of what I have seen in South East Asia is just lame. Almost every building you see is a cement rectangle that is designed to have a shop on the ground floor and then a residence or apartments above it. I realize that this is simply efficiency and makes a lot of sense for whoever is building it but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Every now and then you run into a business that has gotten a bit creative to try to set themselves apart from the pack though.
I don't even know what this business sells. I have only seen it a couple of times on my walks and it has been closed ever since I moved into the neighborhood for Covid reasons I guess, but isn't it amazing what a little bit of paint and some artistry can do to a rectangle?
They also got a bit creative with the windows and it almost gives it a sort of European feel to it.
The average building in this and every other neighborhood looks something like this next picture
I get that they are doing the best they can to try to spruce up the place but at the end of the day there is only so much you can do to "polish a turd." Wandering around Da Nang, you quickly realize that every single block basically looks the same and it is a little demoralizing to be honest.
Sometimes a water feature can improve the look as well and I always appreciate these.
Recently my own building installed these mosquito breeding grounds at the entrance and while I do like the look of them, i really hope they put some small fish in there to eat the mosquito larvae else we are going to have a real problem on the ground floor of our building.
I suppose the first photo could be considered "street art" and I appreciate it. It is the only building in my entire neighborhood that doesn't just look exactly like the neighbor's place.
I'm pretty sure that all of Asia consists of cement rectangle buildings. It is very rare to see one, especially near a busy part of any town that isn't this way. I guess it is just them maximizing their investment on the building but I agree with you about the design being very boring. Let's think about it this way though: How is it any different from skyscrapers in big cities? They are essentially the same thing, just taller.
Beautiful mosquito farm, hope you get some guppies so they have some friends to play with. A similar problem exists in Cambodia, and because even getting as little as a 5 year lease is almost impossible in high-traffic area, nobody wants to spend money to fix up a place, just makes it harder to try and earn it all back in 5 years before the landlord raises the rent through the roof.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
I owned a few businesses in Thailand that are exactly what you are describing: cement rectangles. There is only so much you can do to mix that up so I applaud the person's efforts in the first shot.
I just painted my buildings an absurd color like yellow or orange to make them stick out. A decision that I later regretted because the weather made it a nice moldy looking color after a few years.