Staggered connection of residents with nature. Ha House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
28/05/2020.
[Ho Chi Minh City] Vietnam
metalocus, HAMZA AYADI
metalocus, HAMZA AYADI
Project description by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
This is the private house project for the three-generation family located in an emerging residential area, 30 minutes by car from the city center of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Surrounding of the site, newly built houses are built one after another and form a high-density city while sharing the outer wall with the neighboring house. The site of project is an example as well, and it was decided to be built with a slender site of 7 m × 20 m.
Among such typical high-density residential development areas in Asia, we tried to propose housing that summarizes the environment of a tropical climate in which green and resident’s lives intertwine.
The client’s first request is A big garden: a green garden where children can play and have BBQ with everyone. In addition, it was hoped that big swimming pool along with spaces for exercise , grandmother’s bedroom, living and dining including kitchen and sufficient parking lot, all on the ground. Hence, we proposed to divide the first hope large garden into smaller spirally connected gardens.
-One garden-
Specifically, as the volume of the building is climbed from the ground floor, it is gradually set back while twisting. And on the top floor, it is configured to protrude by a 2m cantilever to the front road side. Various level of gardens are made of a combination of a tree pot and a floor of terrace and these are three-dimensionally continuous from the ground floor to the roof while spirally penetrating the building.
Each tree pot is always arranged to surround the terrace floor, and it also functions as a blindfold from a front road, while creating a tree shade that weakens the harsh sunlight, depending on the type of planting. The terraces are arranged on each floor with variety of size according to function, it can be a private garden which can go out directly from each bedroom, or public garden which everyone can gather. All of these gardens are individual, but it is also 'one-garden' where residents and kids can run through by the outer steel staircase.
In the inner space, the ground floor and the first floor are connected by a huge central void, and the living + dining, kitchen, library and the kids bedroom become one space and residents can always feel each other.
Meanwhile, through openings of various scales and proportions, residents can also dynamically connect to the outside environment with full of greenery.
Thus, we hope that rich relationships will be established such as connection of people and people, people and the natural environment.
-Environmental strategy-
The gap among the volumes shifted allow not only the plants and the inhabitants, but also natural light and natural wind to pass. In such elongated site where it tends to become closed, we have acquired an open environment. By reducing the amount of sunlight directly hitting the outer wall by shaded volumes and the green arranged on the facade, it was taken to reduce the running cost of future air conditioner score.
Because of non-abundant budget, it was required to make the finishing cost as low as possible. Therefore, we consistently use bricks which is commonly used at construction sites in Vietnam. Since worker-fee is low compare with material costs in this country, construction expenses can be reduced cheaply by finely grinding the brick finish. Also, bricks, a material of local products, can reduce the environmental burden on transportation.
-Connection of people and people, people to nature-
This project is one of the latest works of the series project 'House for trees' which we have been continuing in recent years. Among them, we aimed not only to plant trees in houses, but also to create a new type of house for trees which the life of residents and nature are more closely intertwined.
VTN Architects (Vo Trong Nghia Architects). Founded in 2006, VTN Architects (Vo Trong Nghia Architects) is a leading architectural practice in Vietnam with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. More than 60 international architects, engineers and staff work closely on cultural, residential and commercial projects worldwide.
By experimenting with light, wind and water, and by using natural and local materials, VTN Architects employ a contemporary design vocabulary to explore new ways to create green architecture for the 21st century, whilst maintaining the essence of Asian architectural expression.
VTN Architects are in strong collaboration with Wind and Water House JSC, a construction company specializing in green buildings construction, to realize designs of high quality in Vietnam.
Vo Trong Nghia studied architecture at the University of Tokyo before returning to Vietnam to establish Vo Trong Nghia Architects in 2006. Through a series of the award winning projects, Nghia has developed sustainable architectural design by integrating inexpensive, local materials and traditional skills with contemporary aesthetics and modern methodologies. Nghia has received numerous international prizes and honours including the World Architecture Festival Award, the ARCASIA award, the WAN 21 for 21 Award and the FuturArc Green leadership Award. In 2012, he was selected as the Architect of the year in Vietnam. Besides running his architectural practice, Nghia has continued to be involved in architecture at a grass roots level by teaching at the Nagoya Institute of Technology in 2011.