Vietnamese architecture practice Ho Khue Architects has designed a 4-storey concrete house on a narrow plot measuring an area of 5m x 16m in Vietnam. 

Named The Concrete House 01, the 300-square-metre house is arranged in a playful layout with a scattered program vertically. 

Placed on a site located in Son Tra near Da Nang beach, the architects wanted to give response to the growth of hospitality high-rises which has led to low-density structures deteriorating faster than regional structures.

"These changes are creating topographical changes creating imbalanced soil and high salinity levels in air and land," said Ho Khue Architects. 

"Therefore, a complete concrete solution for the house is considered to cope with the regional climatic conditions."

For material selection, the architects selected exposed concrete material. As the studio highlights, monolithic concrete structures often has complex construction processes that require good workmanship with quality and time. 

"It needs careful, fine-tuned structural & technically coordination amongst the involved parties," they added. 

In order to synchronize all the exposed concrete surfaces like wall, floor & ceiling the concrete house uses grindstone material "granite", one of the popular material in traditional Vietnamese houses in the 80s, made with few skilled workers.

The volumetric form of the structure is derived from a "box", the idea of architectural cubes is evolved from the playful imaginations of children’s LEGO game and each floor is commensurate with ‘stacked’ and ‘sliding’ box block. 

These boxes help in creating simple, powerful and fun architectural shapes. Many voids and open spaces within the box make space look wider and larger giving human comfort. 

This architectural solution contributes to changing the mindset of mainstream and boring rigid block building houses in the current urban housing scenario.

The combination of improvised concrete ‘boxes’ create a flexible, airy space inside the house carving large atrium to bring natural greens inside. Fewer walls and big volumes encourage natural light and wind circulations. 

All spaces are connected with corridor bridges & stairs linking the rooms. Central atrium formed also encourages visually and verbal communications within the house connecting family members.

Roof plan

1st and 2nd floor plans

3rd and 4th floor plans

Section

Diagram 1

Diagram 2 

Diagram 3

All images © Hiroyuki Oki

All drawings © Ho Khue Architects

> via Ho Khue Architects