CO-NX

ABOUT

CURATED PROJECTS

GoVM

STATEMENT
CO-NX is a critical architecture practice that operates at the intersection of theory and practice, using different media and formats. The practice aims to engage with the contemporary conditions of our time, particularly those related to architectural transformation, experimental preservation and often situated contexts.

CO-NX believes architecture as an open and collaborative process with buildings as part of larger systems. To interface with these systems, the practice utilizes framework that consists of design, research and teaching.

Emphasizing working with different stakeholders with different expertise, CO-NX celebrates existing building environment as main subject of interest and aims to activate their latent potentials.

BIOGRAPHY
Duc Le is an architect and researcher at CO-NX. A graduate of the Manchester School of Architecture and the Architectural Association (AA), Duc has worked extensively on architectural projects in the UK, Eastern Europe, and Vietnam, with a focus on heritage, adaptive reuse, and creative preservation. Duc has served as an associate lecturer and design unit master at the University of Greenwich (2021-2023) and Oxford Brookes University (2019-2020), and as a course tutor at the Architectural Association Visiting School (2016). He is also a regular visiting critic at various architecture schools in the UK and Vietnam.

Duc engages with architecture in both practice and theory, having previously contributed to the Plakat research platform and advised the Hanoi Ad Hoc initiative. He also initiated the Grids of Vietnamese Modernism, a project focusing on the historiography and critique of Vietnamese architecture in the 20^th century. Duc is currently a PhD candidate under the Practice Research Symposium Programme at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University and a founding member of Gian Giua collective.

INDEX

YEAR

DASHBOARD

AAVS_HANOI LAUNCH // 07.11.2024

Together with Sho Ito from s-ito, we will be launching AAVS_Hanoi under Architectural Association Visiting School Programme in 2025.

AAVS Hanoi is a two-week research programme that explores the concept of experimental preservation within the unique and rapidly evolving built environment of Hanoi, Vietnam. In response to the relentless pace of urban regeneration and localised informal (de)construction practices that continually reshape the city’s fabric, the programme seeks to address these dynamic changes by focusing on the digital documentation of overlooked 20th-century architectural artifacts, particularly those at risk of being forgotten or erased. By tapping into Hanoi’s distinctive context, the programme also delves into the material culture and urban narratives surrounding these architectural relics.

Using digital tools and advanced research methods, participants will capture, analyse and preserve these architectural elements, highlighting their historical, cultural and sociopolitical significance. The programme critically examines how these artifacts have contributed to Hanoi’s organic development, revealing the underlying forces shaping the city’s informal forms of living, working and playing. By connecting the past and present through experimental preservation, the programme aims to foster a deeper understanding of how urban spaces evolve in response to both external pressures and community-driven forces. From these findings, we aim to establish a discourse on what constitutes Hanoi’s heritage and how it can be sustainably preserved for the future.

The research will be conducted in collaboration with several universities, institutions, curators and practicing architectural offices, providing a robust academic framework that includes lectures on the history and design of 20th-century Vietnamese architecture. This theoretical foundation will be complemented by office visits and hands-on workshops focused on 3D scanning, photogrammetry, filmmaking, and in-depth discussions on topics such as multiple modernities and experimental preservation. Students will work collaboratively, supported by personalised tutorials and review sessions. The project will culminate in the production of short narrated films, which will be publicly screened and exhibited.

For more information, please visit:
https://www.aaschool.ac.uk/academicprogrammes/visitingschool/pixel-preservation

STUDIO CRITIC AT AA FIRST YEAR // 25.10.2024

We joined Dailia Matsuura and Albane Duvillier as visiting critic during First Year review at the Architectural Association discussing idea of survey and architectural observation.

PRESENTATION // 28.09.2024

CO-NX’s Director Duc Le will be presenting his WIP (Work In Progress) PhD research titled "Modernity Slippage and Archival Memory – A drawing investigation into Vietnamese Architecture and Its Embedded Ideologies" under the Practice Research Symposium Programme at RMIT/RMIT Vietnam. In this session, Duc will discuss his background, his aspirations for modernist heritage, and his approach to investigating the condition of Vietnamese modernist architecture.