(VOVworld)- A bamboo building inside Muong Museum, 80 kilometres west of Hanoi, has just been awarded a silver prize in the Cultural Architecture category by the organisers of the American Architecture Prize 2016.

Bamboo – Light of Empty Heart is designed to enhance the quality of natural light and the vertical bamboo ladder form (Photo courtesy of Akasha)

The structure was also given a prize in the Social Design category at the American Bamboo Society Arts and Crafts Competition in mid-September. Titled ‘Bamboo – Light of Empty Heart’, the building was designed in 2014 by architect Hoang Minh and the Hanoi-based Akasha (Akasa) Company. It covers a total area of 350sq.m and serves as an art exhibition hall at the Muong Museum, a private museum featuring the ethnic minority Muong group, run by painter Vu Duc Hieu in the northern province of Hoa Binh.