Studio anettai transforms Saigon villa into regenerative Pizza 4P’s flagship

edible farm garden day time at Pizza 4P's Thao Dien

Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien occupies a secluded villa in Ho Chi Minh City that studio anettai has carefully adapted into the restaurant brand’s regenerative flagship.

Set on a site of more than 900 square metres with a three-metre level change, the project connects dining rooms, a former swimming pool and an edible garden through a continuous landscape. Instead of treating the old house as a shell to conceal, the architects worked with its existing walls, openings and traces of use.

Former swimming pool retained as a semi-outdoor dining area at Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Ground-floor seating arranged within the existing villa — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

First-floor dining space at Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Edible farm steps beneath a lightweight layered roof — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Entrance gate framed by tropical planting — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

The design develops what the team calls a “Local Regenerative” approach. Beyond reducing environmental impact, the restaurant is intended to repair what already exists, accommodate plants and other living systems, respond to changing conditions and carry local knowledge forward over time.

Daily watering in the restaurant’s edible farm — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Dining seats occupy the former swimming pool — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Ground-floor interior seating with exposed existing surfaces — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Pizza counter on the ground floor — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

As it is
The villa’s worn surfaces were scraped back and stripped rather than covered with new finishes. Mortar around the former pool was retained, allowing the emptied basin to become a semi-outdoor dining room whose previous function remains legible.

Four-metre-high dining area in the half basement — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Ground-floor seating facing the former swimming pool — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Existing staircase and openings preserved within the renovation — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

First-floor seating beneath the retained villa structure — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Earthwork
A continuous ground plane extends from the farm into the restaurant. Artificial floor layers were removed and reconstructed with soil, sand, rubble from demolished walls, brick, terracotta, earth-mixed polished cement and exposed aggregate. Around 70 per cent of the site has been returned to permeable ground.

First-floor dining space illuminated at night — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Edible farm and restaurant at night — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Former swimming pool dining area at night — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Entrance gate at night — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Shading
Slender steel columns carry a light canopy of thatch, agricultural mesh and stainless-steel wire. Layered with the shade of preserved trees, these modest elements temper the tropical climate while keeping the boundary between architecture and garden deliberately loose.

Ground-floor corridor lit after dark — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Front view of first-floor seating at night — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Detail of the lightweight entrance gate — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Farm staircase and aquaponics detail — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Slow, grow, care
The edible farm is conceived as an evolving part of Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien rather than a finished landscape. Monitoring, research, workshops, exhibitions and dining allow the site to be tended and adjusted as human and non-human life develops around it.

View from the reception towards the stepped garden — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Seating detail beside the existing staircase — Photography © Hiroyuki Oki

Axonometric drawing of Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien — Drawing courtesy of studio anettai

Ground-floor plan of Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien — Drawing courtesy of studio anettai

First-floor plan of Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien — Drawing courtesy of studio anettai

Section drawing of Pizza 4P’s Thao Dien — Drawing courtesy of studio anettai

Project Credits

Project: Pizza 4P’s in Thao Dien
Design firm: studio anettai / @studio.anettai
Location: Thao Dien, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Site area: 934.8 m²
Gross floor area: 560.8 m²
Completion: December 2025
Photography: Hiroyuki Oki / @oki.hiroyuki.47