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Architects: Studio Voi
- Area: 500 m²
- Year: 2023
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Manufacturers: Louis Poulsen
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Lead Architect: Nguyễn Đăng Phi Long
Text description provided by the architects. The initial premise of this project is the desire to build a space to serve accommodation and promote local tourism. The basis for us to embark on this design is to reflect the life of this land through the solutions and spaces that form the Dehue building. The land is located on the main road of Thuy Bieu, an area famous for Hue garden houses. This place has a Thanh Tra grapefruit garden and fruit trees that are always surrounded by greenery all year round by typical hedgerows from Chinese tea plants.
The location adjacent to the main road is both an advantage and a challenge for the project itself before the era of urbanization and the economy of using facades as a measure of internal value. As for us, Dehue has nothing more than the desire to retain the inherent beauty and lifestyle of this land. Based on the context of Thuy Bieu cultural land, the project is a 2-storey building with a density of less than 50%. The block layout is independent and extroverted, like the basic structure of a garden house with a main and secondary space and a front and back yard. Dehue retains Thuy Bieu's familiar facade with a hedgerow and a front yard with many trees, which is also a common living space for cultural and artistic activities and a buffer for accommodation space and traffic roads.
The structure forming the Dehue space comprises two semi-circles touching each other, with the two centers being the front and back gardens, forming 4 yards at the largest width. All activities are oriented out of these garden spaces and through them. The spaces include a common living space, 7 accommodation rooms, a shared kitchen, and an auxiliary space. All are located in the middle of a green garden. Dong-Ba room - a common living space shaped from the first semi-circular wall is a small garden where every look, movement, and sound will reflect this yard. A system of long folding doors is always open to welcome and organize common activities. Lightly placed on these doorways is a system of steel trusses shaped like horizontal boats. This is also where we contribute a small green space to Thuy Bieu's main street.
The second semicircle separates the accommodation rooms from facing a more private backyard with an extended corridor buffer at both ends, which are also the two edges of the land boundary. Dehue welcomes guests with a slowly sloping ramp and a courtyard with apricot trees and toadstools purchased from houses in the cleared area. The hallway gradually closes when entering the accommodation rooms and expands to its full extent in the kitchen area.
OPENNESS - The small stages in the process of forming Dehue are the times when we experience local intimacy and the main impact on the process of forming this space. Room nameplates made of Hue-painted enamel art, cabinets with woodblocks printed with traditional paintings from Sinh village, and stainless steel blocks for tables are inspired and kept original by the memory of the late sculptor Diem Phung Thi, door frames, bamboo bed headboards from Bao-La village, night lampshades from bamboo frames to make conical hats from Da Le village, inlaid ceramic pieces from enameled tiles to serve the restoration of relics by local artisans. Placement methods,... All are little suggestions for visitors to learn and explore the heritage of Hue.
The front yard and rows of Chinese tea plants call for retaining the value of the streets in Thuy Bieu as they are. These plants were bought from surrounding households and will be cut down to clear land for expanding Bui Thi Xuan Street. Dehue is also a new garden created with pieces from old gardens, starting from an empty land between a garden house and fruit trees. The garden will continue to exist and develop as an inherent part of the locality. The project also wants to play a small role in preserving Hue culture in the closest, most conserving, and suggestive way for visitors.
