Text description provided by the architects. Thuy Khue house is located at a crowded residential area in Hanoi, which contains numerous long, small and narrow alleys. The living environment in areas like this is always short of green and natural light. The design is an effort to deal with the situation, in order to create a living environment that close to nature in such an unhealthy urban atmosphere.
The site has an amorphous shape without façade, surrounded by 4- to 5-story houses, left only a small path leading to the house.
The design proposes a 3-storey high courtyard at the core of the site. It includes two parts, half inside and half outside, providing abundance of wind and light for the house. The courtyard become the breathing space for the house, from which all the members of the family can make communication with the others. This also helps reducing the separation between rooms and floors, as well as minimizing the disadvantage of tube-house model.
The first floor includes living room – dining room – kitchen, together with remaining small spaces to plant trees. This is the common space with plenty of light and green for the family.
The upper stories contain bedrooms, which also make use of small atriums to make openings which allows natural light and ventilation for the inside. Every space in the house is therefore always airy, light, and got interesting view to few green spaces left in the area.
The interior was design in minimalism, using bright colors to make the space feels larger. The indoor feels like a different world, calm and airy, contrasting with the dusty and messy world outside.
With the desire of improving the living environment of people in dense urban area, the project aims to propose a simple solution by focusing on natural elements such as lighting, ventilation and green. We hope this can help people to live closer to the others and to the nature.