Mel Schenck is an American architect with 50 years of experience managing design and construction of complex planning and building projects. He began his career managing construction contracts to Vietnamese contractors for the U.S. Navy in 1971-72. He ended his professional career with the design of his Ho Chi Minh City "Breeze House" in 2014, which was published in several architectural magazines including Architect Magazine and ArchDaily. He has now moved on to architectural history research and writing. His article “The Largest Military Construction Project in History” was published in the New York Times on 16 January 2018. His book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture: Mid-century Vernacular Modernism" was published internationally in April 2020, and in Vietnam in May 2020.
Architecture Vietnam Books, Ho Chi Minh City, VN, Architectural Historian
Owner of firm and publisher of books about Vietnamese architecture. Researcher and author for the book "Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture: Mid-century Vernacular Modernism" published in 2020, and currently researching information-age architecture and Vietnamese contemporary architecture for a subsequent book.
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, US, MArch, Architecture
Design studios culminating in a design thesis focusing on change in world views and the development of information-age architecture applied to an urban-center library in downtown San Francisco.
Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, US, BArch, Architecture
A well-rounded curriculum leading to a professional degree in architecture. The undergraduate thesis focused on changeable spaces for a university center at Montana State University.
