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Alexandre Garel

@saigonsnaps

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Garel Alexandre
photographer saigon Based
publish 2 books
Modernism in Vietnam
saigon Portrait Of A city
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[email protected]

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The **Jeunhomme building**, built around 1931 and attributed to architect **Blesson**. I particularly like this building for its Art Deco chamfered corner, continuous balconies, geometric friezes and, inside, its beautiful terrazzo staircase. At street level, the sign of the **Imprimerie Moderne** is still there, a small reminder of the everyday life of the neighbourhood that has survived through the decades.

### CASABLANCA — Portrait of a City

For the past three years, I have been photographing Casablanca. Walking through the city, opening doors, climbing staircases and looking for details that often go completely unnoticed from the street.

I have carried out this work from Vietnam, where I live, with a personal connection to the city as well: my mother is from Casablanca. I did not grow up here, but through my travels and research, I have gradually developed a strong connection with the city, particularly through its architecture.

Today, after three years of work, the project is coming to an end and will take the form of a **book dedicated to Casablanca’s architectural heritage**, focusing on façades, interiors and Art Deco and modernist details.

I would really like this book to be **printed and supported here in Casablanca**, and above all, to be seen by the people of Casablanca themselves.

I am therefore currently looking for **local partners, sponsors, patrons, institutions or publishers** who might be interested in supporting the project.

If you know people or organisations committed to preserving Casablanca’s architectural memory and who might be interested in this project, I would be very happy to get in touch with them.

🏢 **Jeunhomme Building — c. 1931**
📐 **Architect:** Blesson (attributed)
📍 **30–36 Boulevard Rahal el-Meskini (formerly Boulevard de Lorraine), corner of Rue Essedik — Casablanca**

📷 **Photos:** © Alexandre Garel

#Casablanca #CasablancaArchitecture #ArtDeco #CasablancaHeritage #ArchitectureHeritage #ImmeubleJeunhomme #ArchitecturalPhotography #UrbanPhotography #AlexandreGarel by @saigonsnaps

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6 days ago

### Casablanca: Sweat, Mint Tea and Concrete

I start walking through Casablanca around 8 a.m. and usually don’t stop until 7 p.m.

For hours, I walk kilometres through the city, camera over my shoulder, going up and down streets, entering buildings whenever I can, always looking for the details that are easy to miss.

Those details are often what interest me most.

A tired Art Deco façade, a disappearing balcony, an old door, an original staircase railing, or one of those beautiful wrought-iron elevator cages still found in some of Casablanca’s older buildings.

These things may seem insignificant, but they say a lot about the way the city was built — and about the care that once went into its shared spaces.

I can spend several minutes looking at a staircase, waiting for the right light, the right angle, or simply noticing a small detail in the ironwork. Then I move on and, a few streets later, start all over again.

Eventually, the heat catches up with me. Every hour or two, I sit down on a chair on the pavement with a burning glass of mint tea. I watch the neighbourhood around me, catch my breath, and then get back on the road.

I came to Casablanca to photograph the city, but above all, to document what is slowly disappearing or being transformed.

I have been coming back here for three years, following the same approach I have used in Saigon since 2011: walking, observing, entering when I am allowed to, and trying to preserve a record of places before they are irreversibly changed.

My book, *Casablanca: Portrait of a City*, is now entering its final stage.

So I keep walking, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., camera on my shoulder.

And sometimes, inside an old building, I still come across a staircase or a wrought-iron elevator cage that looks as if it has been waiting all these years for someone to notice it again.

#Casablanca #CasablancaMorocco #CasablancaArchitecture #ArtDeco #ArchitecturePhotography #HeritagePhotography #MoroccanArchitecture #CasablancaArtDeco #UrbanPhotography #StreetPhotography #Morocco #OldCasablanca #Heritage #PhotographyBook #PortraitOfACity #CasablancaPortraitOfACity #AlexandreGarel #GarelPhotography by @saigonsnaps

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10 days ago

**Between Canals and Colonial Memory**

These images reflect the historical imprint and living heritage of the city.

The Indochinese colonial architectural period fascinates me in particular: homes with ochre and pastel yellow facades, accented by large wooden shutters, paned windows, staircases with molded balustrades, and dark tiled roofs.

The city's waterscape possesses a romanticism rarely seen in Vietnam. Scenes of daily life are a feast for the eyes in this town with such a unique atmosphere and a slower pace than the rest of the country; we are fortunate to still see beautifully preserved buildings here.

These visuals capture my concise testimony on the coexistence of Indochinese colonial heritage and everyday river life.

For 15 years, Vietnam has never ceased to surprise and, above all, captivate me.

Have a great day, everyone,

Alex

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#IndochineArchitecture #ColonialArchitecture #VietnamHeritage #ArchitecturalPhotography #StreetPhotography #Vietnam #RiverLife #HeritagePreservation #Indochina #UrbanHistory by @saigonsnaps

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19 days ago

**Yangon, 15th Street — Anatomy of a Lived-in Heritage**

Behind the daily activity and weathered façades of 15th Street lies one of Southeast Asia’s most distinctive historic urban environments.

**The Fraser Plan, 1853**
Following the Second Anglo-Burmese War and the British annexation of Lower Burma in 1852, Rangoon was extensively reorganized. Under Lieutenant Alexander Fraser, the city was laid out according to a precise grid, with numbered streets arranged in a hierarchy of major roads, secondary streets and narrower residential lanes. 15th Street is part of this historic urban fabric.

**Lanmadaw — A Cultural Crossroads**
Located in Lanmadaw Township, close to Chinatown and the Yangon River, 15th Street developed as a busy commercial area. For generations, Chinese, Burmese and South Asian communities have lived and traded within this dense urban environment.

The architecture reflects this mixed use. Ground floors traditionally accommodate shops, workshops, stalls and storage spaces, opening directly onto the pavement, while the upper floors provide living quarters for families.

**A Lived-in Heritage — Preserved but Vulnerable**
Yangon still retains one of Southeast Asia’s largest collections of colonial and pre-war urban architecture. What makes this heritage particularly interesting is that much of it remains part of everyday life rather than being preserved as a museum environment.

15th Street is a good example: the buildings continue to be occupied, adapted and used, while showing the marks of decades of intense urban life.

I photographed Yangon between **2015 and 2019**, documenting its streets, buildings and changing urban fabric.

📖 **Yangon: Portrait of a City**

This photographic work brings together four years of exploration and documentation of Yangon’s architectural heritage.

📸 **Alexandre Garel**

#Yangon #Myanmar #YangonPortraitOfACity #15thStreetYangon #Lanmadaw #YangonArchitecture #ColonialArchitecture #UrbanHeritage #LivedHeritage #VernacularArchitecture #StreetPhotography #ArchitecturePhotography #DocumentaryPhotography #SoutheastAsia #ArchitecturalHeritage #Photobook #AlexandreGarel #SaigonSnaps by @saigonsnaps

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22 days ago

Yangon, 14th Street — Chinatown

In the heart of Chinatown, at the corner of 14th Street, this old shophouse is part of an urban architecture that has become increasingly threatened.

Yangon’s Chinese quarter is older than the British colonial street grid: Chinese communities were already established in the area before the orthogonal plan of downtown Yangon was laid out in the nineteenth century. Under British rule, the city was subsequently developed around a dense network of streets, shops and mixed-use buildings combining commercial activities with housing.

With its masonry façade deeply weathered by the monsoon, tall louvered windows, decorative details and dense network of electrical cables, this building belongs to the ordinary architecture that nevertheless forms an essential part of Chinatown’s identity.

Studies of Yangon’s urban heritage have also pointed out that traditional shophouses, Chinese clan houses and small urban ensembles in Chinatown have historically received less attention than the city’s major colonial monuments. Their value lies precisely in their relationship with everyday life and with the communities that built and occupied these neighbourhoods.

When I photographed Yangon between 2015 and 2019, these buildings were already facing increasing development pressure and deterioration. Many have since disappeared or are threatened by taller new developments.

This four-year documentary project became my book:

📖 Yangon: Portrait of a City

📸 Alexandre Garel

#Yangon #Myanmar #ChinatownYangon #14thStreet #YangonArchitecture #ArchitecturePhotography #UrbanHeritage #VernacularArchitecture #Shophouse #YangonPortraitOfACity #DocumentaryPhotography #StreetPhotography #ArchitecturalHeritage #HeritageAtRisk #AlexandreGarel #SaigonSnaps #仰光 #缅甸 #YangonHeritage by @saigonsnaps

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a month ago

Chung cư 145 Nguyễn Trãi — Saigon

I photographed this building at 145 Nguyễn Trãi ten years ago. It is an interesting example of Saigon’s tropical modernist architecture, built before 1975.

The seven-storey building is organized around a central open void, bringing light and ventilation into the apartments. Concrete corridors and balconies run around this space, creating a distinctive sequence of angular lines and deep cantilevered slabs. Ventilation blocks, sun-shading devices and the depth of the slabs all respond directly to the tropical climate.

Like many collective housing buildings constructed during this period, the building has since been extensively adapted by its residents: shops occupy the ground floor, cafés have appeared within the apartments, and everyday domestic uses coexist with the original residential structure.

A photograph from my research for Modernist Architecture in Vietnam.

#Saigon #HoChiMinhCity #VietnamArchitecture #ModernistArchitecture #TropicalModernism #SaigonModernism #NguyenTrai #ArchitecturePhotography #VietnamModernism #ModernArchitecture #MidCenturyModern #Brutalism #AlexandreGarel #SaigonSnaps #ModernistArchitectureInVietnam

Je préfère cette réponse by @saigonsnaps

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a month ago

Bien sûr — **anglais uniquement**, et proche de la longueur maximale utile pour Instagram.

**[Urban Memory] 85–87 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám — a modernist remnant of Saigon**

In 2018, I photographed this building at 85–87 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám, then still showing much of its original character, shortly before its renovation and transformation.

Built in the 1960s, it is a remarkable example of South Vietnamese modernist architecture. During the Vietnam War, the building was used by American personnel and was associated with USAID. At the time, the address was still known as 85 Lê Văn Duyệt.

After 1975, it became collective housing (*nhà tập thể*), retaining traces of its different lives over the following decades.

The building brought together many of the principles of tropical modernism: vertical sun-shading elements on the façade, geometric ventilation blocks (*gạch thông gió*) in the stairwell, cement tiles (*gạch bông*) and terrazzo finishes.

What interested me most were the traces of time: worn surfaces, faded colours, old materials and the small details left behind by successive occupants.

The building has since been renovated and transformed. These photographs now document a version of the building that has largely disappeared.

Part of my ongoing photographic research into the modernist architecture of southern Vietnam, featured in my book *Modernist Architecture in Vietnam*.

85–87 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Photographed in 2018 — Alexandre Garel

#Saigon #HoChiMinhCity #VietnamArchitecture #ModernistArchitecture #TropicalModernism #VietnamModernism #SaigonArchitecture #SouthVietnam #ArchitecturalPhotography #UrbanMemory #UrbanHeritage #SaigonHistory #VietnamHeritage #CachMangThangTam #LeVanDuyet #AlexandreGarel #ModernistArchitectureInVietnam by @saigonsnaps

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a month ago

A mansion born from lottery luck, marked by history, and named after a man who bargained over every cent.

Hidden in Chợ Gạo, deep in the Mekong Delta, stands a spectacular hybrid palace with an extraordinary story. It was built by Lê Hữu Thường, a local notable nicknamed “Monsieur 29 sous” for his habit of negotiating every single penny—until his life took a wild turn when he won the grand prize in French Indochina’s very first lottery.

With his overnight fortune, he erected this architectural marvel elevated high to beat the delta floods. The grand facade features a hexagonal central hall, fluted columns with gilded stuccos, and stunning yellow and blue-grey Carrara marble floors imported directly from Italy.

Yet inside, life remained remarkably simple: despite the luxury and hosting guests like Emperor Bảo Đại, the family of thirty slept on simple woven mats laid straight onto the marble floor.

Decades later, history carved its own marks into the walls. Requisitioned after 1975, the mansion served as military barracks—bullet scars are still visible on the facade—and later a livestock barn. Today, tropical greenery and surrounding greenhouses are slowly encircling its grand decay.

This forgotten jewel will be featured in *Houses of the Soul of Cochinchina*, an upcoming book project with my archaeologist friend Lê Quốc, dedicated to preserving the memory of Cochinchina’s grandest lost homes.

📸 Stay tuned for more stories from the Delta.

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#MekongDelta #VietnamHeritage #ArchitecturalHistory #Cochinchina #ForgottenPalaces #HousesOfTheSoulOfCochinchina #ChoGao #HistoricArchitecture #HeritagePreservation #Storytelling by @saigonsnaps

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a month ago

### The Soul of Huế

Some places are more than architecture. They carry the traces of the people and history that passed through them.

On the banks of the Perfume River, **Azerai La Residence** is one of those places.

Built in the 1930s as part of the French Superior Resident’s residence, it reflects a very different side of colonial Indochina. Its rounded façade, long horizontal lines, terraces and Art Deco details feel surprisingly modern for Huế at that time.

What makes the place even more fascinating is its position. Across the Perfume River stands the Imperial Citadel — two worlds facing each other: the old imperial capital and the French colonial administration.

The building survived the upheavals of the 20th century and was carefully restored in the early 2000s, preserving many of its original details.

Today, it is a hotel. But walk through its corridors, climb the terrazzo staircase, or watch the evening light fall across the river, and you can still feel something of the past.

These photographs are part of my book ***Modernist Architecture in Vietnam***, a photographic journey through some of Vietnam’s most remarkable modernist and architectural heritage.

📖 *Modernist Architecture in Vietnam* — photographs by Alexandre Garel.

📸 Alexandre Garel

#ModernistArchitecture #VietnamArchitecture #Hue #AzeraiLaResidence #Indochine #ArtDeco #ColonialArchitecture #VietnamHeritage #ArchitecturePhotography #AlexandreGarel by @saigonsnaps

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2 months ago

Saigon, my city of heart, the city I have walked through for fifteen years.

A city of unparalleled visual richness. A city that never seems to run out of breath. A city of a thousand smiles, a thousand scents, and ten thousand sounds.

Ten thousand horns reminding you just how crowded, alive, and restless this city truly is.

I love it. Sometimes I hate it. But it will forever have a place in my heart.

#Saigon #HoChiMinhCity #Vietnam #SaigonLife #SaigonStreets #SaigonPhotography #VietnamPhotography #StreetPhotography #UrbanPhotography #CityLife #MySaigon #SaigonLove #PortraitOfACity #Photography #AlexandreGarel by @saigonsnaps

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2 months ago

Today, I'd like to share one of my favorite examples of modernist architecture in Saigon: the residential building managed by the French Consulate.

Originally built in the 1940s, the building was redesigned in the 1960s by the renowned Vietnamese architect **Ngô Viết Thụ**, whose work has become an essential part of Vietnam's architectural heritage.

This post is especially meaningful to me because this morning I received a message from his son, **Ngô Viết Nam Sơn**, thanking me for the work I've been doing over the past several years to document and promote Vietnam's modernist architectural legacy—particularly the buildings designed by his father. It was a truly touching moment and a wonderful source of motivation.

The interior of this residence is, in my opinion, one of the finest examples of Vietnamese modernist design. Its elegant proportions, refined details, and timeless atmosphere make it a remarkable architectural achievement.

I'm also sharing two original architectural drawings that I discovered thanks to a Facebook group of architecture students in Vietnam. My sincere thanks to them for making these documents available. The drawings do not belong to me, so I am only sharing two excerpts to accompany these photographs.

If you're passionate about Vietnamese modernist architecture, I invite you to discover my book *Modernist Architecture in Vietnam*, the result of several years of research and photography. Feel free to contact me if you'd like a copy.

#ModernistArchitecture #VietnamArchitecture #Saigon #HoChiMinhCity #NgoVietThu #Architecture #Modernism #ArchitecturalHeritage #ArchitecturePhotography #MidCenturyModern #Vietnam by @saigonsnaps

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2 months ago

Living Memory of Cochinchina: The Intimacy of a Century-Old House

Capturing this interior photograph required a great deal of patience. The owner was initially reluctant to allow any photographs to be taken inside her home. After many respectful requests, and thanks to her trust and kindness, she finally allowed me to document this extraordinary heritage.

Out of respect for her wishes, I will not disclose the name or location of this house. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to preserve, through photography, the fragile beauty of this remarkable place.

Please note that any reproduction, use, or distribution of my photographs outside my official publications, without my prior written permission, constitutes copyright infringement and may result in legal action. I mention this because it unfortunately happened to me again only three days ago.

Behind its weathered colonial façade and finely crafted wrought-iron details lies an interior of exceptional richness. Hand-painted ceiling frescoes, adorned with flowing motifs and natural landscapes, harmonize beautifully with the geometric encaustic tiles that cover the floor. At the heart of the house stands the ancestral altar, finished in black lacquer and gold leaf, watching silently over a place where time itself seems to stand still.

#HousesOfSouls #Cochinchina #NamKy #VietnamHeritage #VietnamArchitecture #ColonialArchitecture #HistoricHomes #ArchitecturalPhotography #InteriorArchitecture #CulturalHeritage #OldHouses #MekongDelta #DocumentaryPhotography #FineArtPhotography #SaigonSnaps #AlexandreGarel by @saigonsnaps

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2 months ago