Du Nghiem

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Hi, I’m Du Nghiem (b. 2003, Hanoi). I’m a recent graduate from Yale College (B.A. in Architecture and B.A. in Psychology) and an incoming Master of Architecture student at Rice University.

I love desire paths, number generators, hammock naps, and the cold feel of concrete. I am interested in memory preservation, mapping and counter-mapping.

I hope to design with curiosity, courage, and care.

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A - ARCHITECTURE

4-2. Threaded Ground
4-1. Mobile Textile Hub
3-3. River’s Edge
3-2. Intimate Immensity
2-3. Play/ Ground
2-2. Sheer Folly
2-1. Kit of Parts
1-3. And/ Or
1-2. Tide Pools

B - OTHER MEDIUM

3-2. Thresholds
3-1. Dominant Void
2-1. Illustrations
1-1. Sketches

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Email | Linkedin | Instagram

A4-2. THREADED GROUND

Academic Project
Spring 2025, Yale College
Instructor: Daisy Ames

Located in Holtville, California, this hemp fiber facility builds on the region’s agricultural legacy while tapping into the sustainable potential of industrial hemp - known for its low water needs, soil-replenishing properties, and versatility in textiles.

Bridging research, craft, and community-based production, the facility supports a regional network of growers and makers, serving not just as a processing site but as a platform for ecological design, traditional techniques, and local economic revitalization.

Process diagram

Experiential Vignettes

RULE OF THIRDS

The facility follows a rule-of-thirds composition: a long bar building divided into three horizontal strips and two uneven chunks. Cubic volumes, housing bathrooms, storage, and mechanical space, organize the central strip into distinct functional zones. Entrances and framed views at either end create open loops for circulation and visibility.

The program consists of three central zones: a prototyping wing for hemp fiber processing and docking station for the mobile textile hub for material exchange and field-to-factory integration; a workshop and research wing supporting design, education, and office work; and gallery-like corridors that showcase experimental textiles and traditional crafts.

PONDEROUS/ POROUS

The architecture draws on the sawtooth roof typology, oriented for optimal daylighting through north-facing clerestories. Terracotta roof panels provide passive cooling suited to the desert climate, while south-facing solar panels support renewable energy needs. The glazed street-facing facade offers a counterpoint to the heavy roof, establishing a light and porous interface with the public.

The interior is defined by its generous height, soft daylight, and exposed timber structure. The beams act as scaffolding, allowing fabrics, weavings, and quilts to drape, suspend, and animate the space with motion and tactility.

Technical Drawings

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B3-2. THRESHOLDS
Interactive Installation

A Collaboration with Darwin Do (Technical Contributor)
Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) Studio Fellowship, 2024–2025

All activation modes/ Single-duo activation

Shades/ Lines/ Volumes

Inspired by Rudolf Laban’s kinesphere - the invisible sphere defined by one’s reach - this installation challenges rigid perceptions of personal space, encouraging participants to co-create and reshape spatial relationships through movement.

A maze-like structure of sheer fabric screens creates a translucent, shifting environment. These screens obscure direct visibility between participants, allowing only their shadows to emerge. Bodies stir the air, making the fabrics ripple, stretch, drift. Motion activates dynamic visual projections - some requiring two participants on opposite sides of a screen, while others function independently. The evolving graphics trace a progression of architectural elements - points, lines, surfaces, and volumes.

A series of projectors connected to Raspberry Pis display the projections on the fabric. Ultrasonic distance sensors connectd to ESP32s are placed on the ground to detect motion from participants. Motion data is sent to the Pis over UDP via the OSC protocol.

Installation setup at CCAM's Leeds Studio
Photos by Chen Xiangyun and Maggie Schnyer

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A3-2. INTIMATE IMMENSITY

Academic Project
Fall 2024, Yale College
Instructors: Adam Hopfner & Talitha Liu

Site/ sectional plans

Experiential Vignettes

“Sight says too many things at one time. Being does not see itself. Perhaps it listens to itself.”
- Gaston Bachelard in The Poetics of Space.

Standing in the middle of the Stony Creek Quarry in Branford, Connecticut, I felt swallowed by the echoes and vibrations of the active site. Thinking of sound as a spatial event unfolding overtime, I hope to create a contemplative dwelling that cultivates a series of acoustic experiences.

FORM

The space is carved out of stone and nestled into the grand, vertical granite blocks. I took inspiration from satellite dishes, handheld sound magnifiers, and ultrasound images to generate the soft, amorphous internal form, contrasting with the perfect geometry of the shell and the rugged landscape. The tunneling effect embodies how sounds rise and fall, resonate back and forth in all directions.

SEQUENCE

Ripples of sound extract and carve out pockets of space, a constantly evolving sequence of compression and release. The dwelling simultaneously recedes into the quarry and reaches out to the boundless water, oscillating between a hiding spot of utmost quietness and a dynamic, open echo chamber. As sounds take over, one is enveloped with a sense of intimate immensity.

Concrete-cast sectional models

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B3-1. DOMINANT VOID
Timber structure/ sculpture

Academic Project
Fall 2024, Yale College
Instructors: Adam Hopfner & Talitha Liu

This 5-feet structure is inspired by how anatomical limitations and a sense of body territory can map onto one’s understanding of space. The void is measured and defined by the movements of the human body: it remains invisible until the body starts moving. Each vertex marks the extent of one’s limbs; each turning corner captures the tension of pushing, pulling, stretching, reaching, leaning, swaying.

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A2-2. SHEER FOLLY

Academic Project
Spring 2024, Yale College
Instructors: Surry Schlabs & Joyce Hsiang

An object of delight, an ever-expanding landscape in itself, a sheer folly - the structure is constructed with wooden sticks of the same length, woven, stacked, and interlocked orthogonally. Amidst this strict set of constraints is a sense of spatial ambiguity, porosity, and playfulness.

Technical Drawings

The design is rooted in the study of Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals. I am drawn to the rhythms created by the stone patterns and the introduction of light as an element of play.

FLUID/ RIGID

A multitude of striations dominate the interchangeable plan and section views; the patterns of the roof echo the ground floor’s. Soft curvatures emerged from the rigidity and linearity of the materials; the regular rhythms of the horizontal steps juxtapose with the seemingly arbitrary placements of the vertical handrails.

PUBLIC/ PRIVATE

The back of the stairs can be utilized as a sitting area - a place of rest, or a cozy hiding spot. While being in their own bubble, one can still interact with their surroundings by peering through the gaps in between the wooden sticks. This dialogue between up and down, exterior and interior further amplify the spatial ambiguity.

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