Salvaged Ring

A carpenter’s accumulated scrap timber supplied the frame and screens of Salvaged Ring. Larger pieces were joined with mortise-and-tenon connections to make the main structure; smaller offcuts became entrance louvers that filter sun and noise. a21studio completed the coffee shop in Nha Trang in 2014, using the stored wood without cutting new trees for the project.

Between a highway and a river, a broad thatched roof curves down from the road toward the water. It follows the change in ground level and shelters a route around a planted courtyard. The bend turns visitors away from the traffic before they reach the seating areas.

Tables and timber chairs sit beneath the continuous canopy, looking across the garden and river through openings in the walls. The courtyard admits daylight and air into the covered interior, while coconut-leaf thatch shades the seating. Local stone forms the garden walls along the route.