I received the request for the house design in early 2017. This land is located on a small street in the center of Da Nang city, Vietnam. The land area is 120m2, in which, the front side is just over 4m and the back side is very narrow, just 3.5m. However, its length is very great, up to 33m. What a bad land! The Employer requested me to design this house to en-sure the following factors:
- The first floor is used for coffee business, with full equipment.
- The second floor is used for families with 4 members: husband, wife and two children
- The roof floor is used as a playground.
- The construction area is about 90m2/1 floor.
- Investment cost doesn’t exceed 60,000 USD
After the field survey, I quickly got the suitable idea to meet all the above requirements. My plan is based on the idea of three pots of trees that are planted straightly along vertical line of the land. In the space among these pots, the wells are established to welcome the sun and wind, which makes the house airy and cool. I mainly use raw materials such as hand-made bricks, granite, green trees, which bring a feeling of closeness to the nature. In addition, due to the house’s narrowness, I use a lot of glass walls and glass doors so that more light and wind can go into the house. One more special thing is that the TV shelf and desk of this house is made from pieces of removed wood and they look pretty good. The whole house is divided into 3 areas:
The 1st floor: Space for café business: including bar, kitchen and blending area. I use the folding sliding doors, lots of trees and fish ponds to create a completely open space. Furthermore, for the decreased hardness of the material, I used white curtain to create soft-ness for space.
The 2nd Floor: Living Space: Including the living room, kitchen in the middle and bed-rooms arranged in the front and behind. The two bedrooms are connected to the living room and kitchen by the bridge corridor made of glass. The light, wind and trees can be seen in all the rooms.
Roof floor: I use 3 types of Vietnamese fruit trees planted in concrete tanks to protect the roof from heat and create cool, green spaces and accordingly, this area could be used for coffee business or playing activities of the family.
After the completion of the project, I received appreciation for the spatial solution and the aesthetics of the house. The Employer was very pleased with this project and so am I.