Nhà Hương House / H-H Studio

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Text description provided by the architects. After buying the land next door, the same area: 5×24=120m2 as the old house. The customer wants to renovate it into a living space for 5 members: husband and wife and 3 small children. Customers always want to maintain a traditional family lifestyle, gather together, and spend time together as much as possible. Moreover, deep inside our souls, we realize that even though we have lived and worked for a long time in the city, Da Nang City – a young, dynamic, and rapidly developing city – always carry with them the image of their hometown: Hue – the capital of Vietnam from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. Where there is a population of Ancient capital relics recognized by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage (1993). The architectural idea is to create a house with images, space, materials, atmosphere… with old colors, “tinged” with time.

We see this as a test of the transition between the past and the present, between the preservation of old memories in the soul and the pace of development of current life, between places in the mind and the place of reality.

The project was formed based on 2 orientations:

1. The new land will be used as a garden – a precious empty urban space – with the main direction being West, the back facing East (near neighboring low-rise buildings); this is an ideal condition so that the Tropical Garden receives all solar radiation during the year.
2. Change the function of the existing building so that the functional spaces face the south garden to fully exploit the south direction, which is the optimal direction in terms of climate in Vietnam in general and Da Nang city in general private.

Based on the concrete structural frame system, elevation of the first floor, elevation of the 2nd floor, roof, and fixed dimensions of the existing building, We created an almost symmetrical T-shaped structure with the center being the atrium space in the dining room. Plays a role in linking the old space (renovating the current situation) and the new construction, which is quite small compared to the new land: 5×3.7m=18.5 m2 with the bedroom function on the 2nd floor and the 1st floor left empty. – is the evolution of the dining room to the “idle” space – which overlooks the aquarium and garden. This also helps cool ventilation in the summer from the east and southeast throughout the entire building. The bedroom is on the first floor – in direct contact with the garden. The whole family sleeps here when Grandma comes to visit from Hue. Normally, the whole family sleeps here on weekends.

Huong is the wife’s name and a characteristic of the garden. All plants grown in the garden are fragrant plants when in flower:

1. Shrubs: Laurus nobilis L, Jasminum sambac Ait, Antidesma acidum, Rondeletia Leucophylla, Gardenia Jasminoides Ellis, Osmanthus Fragrans….
2. Fruit trees: Thanh Tra, grapefruit, Hoang Dieu orange, etc., are purchased in Thuy Bieu village – Hue city – where there is a project to open roads through orchards that need to be relocated. A grass foundation is a solution to help green the surface and drain water naturally.

Along with typical techniques in traditional architectural layout:

• Axial symmetry.
• Human activities placed in the center of space to direct the view into intentional locations.
• Buffer spaces.

Material options: background: polished concrete with clear wax, walls, and ceiling are scratched before painting gray cement-based waterproofing, the natural wood color of the furniture, yellow light of LED lights, painted roof: tested before official implementation to concretize exactly what we have imagined for a house with basic expressions of traditional architecture:

• The firmness of large, solid walls with rough surfaces.
• The quiet, still, contemplative atmosphere of the architectural work between the garden, trees, water surface, light and shadow, gentle scent in the air, silhouette of the building, trees, leaves,  sky, and moonlight reflecting on the lake surface.
• The slow, gentle footsteps of people in transforming light in interior and exterior space: dark areas, gray areas, and light areas, the patchiness of light on tiled roofs, walls, and concrete floors.

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Published on December 05, 2023

Cite: “Nhà Hương House / H-H Studio” 05 Dec 2023. ArchDaily. Accessed .