In the suburbs of Cao Lanh City, the house is located in Tan Thuan Tay Village, alongside Nguyen Huu Kien Str. - a newly opened route connecting the suburbs to the city, making way for a soon expansion of the residential area.
Our main concern is finding out how to conceive a modern house, while still inheriting the spirit of the place and meeting the particular needs of the owner - a poet who enjoys his solitude.
The project is structured within these values:
COUNTRYSIDE AND URBANIZATION
The gradual urbanization of the countryside is inevitable. But through our design, it is expected to keep those charming and cherished "rural" traces in the new urban context. With that spirit, the idea of building a new house that evokes the feeling of having existed here for a long time was proposed.
The house is a learning from Cao Lanh's traditional housing order: from the slope format to the local materials uses and construction techniques matching the local craftsmanship.
BLURRING BOUNDARIES
Bringing the riverbank’s landscape as close to the living space as possible. At the house-garden boundary, the arrangement of the oblique directions turns the boundary from a "stroke" to a "zone”, therefore, increasing the view towards the riverside landscape.
This buffer space is the favorite of the homeowner and is used most of the time. Alternating the elements makes the architecture-landscape boundary look more “organic”, human activities are therefore embraced and protected.
THE SECOND BIRD'S NEST
Since the olden days, the way people in the Mekong Delta build their homes is almost similar to that of a bird building a nest: gathering materials from the surroundings - the wood, clay, husk and coconut leaves. Furniture and houseware are also made from bamboo and rattan. A traditional house itself, therefore, becomes an impressive living museum with daily activities exposing a bold culture.
The idea of the “bird's nest” is also an idea we’re given by the owner himself. After a long time living in the city, staying in a nice little "nest" built and adjusted over the years, he decided to sell the house and move back to his hometown to live near his family.
The whole house’s wooden structure is reused from the frame of an old local house. Much of the old nest's furniture is reused in the new nest. After the main wooden parts of the house were finished, the leftover wood was used to assemble a stilt hut by the river. He wishes to build a gentle house in the spirit of reusing much of what is already around.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENT
We were asked to design a house with almost only one space for him to live, work, and rest. The dividers, if any, are just conventional in a single’s house. This communal space opens up entirely onto the veranda and garden - where most of his day's activities take place. An all-in-one space for all activities is the solution we've built with him since the early days of the design process.
SPIRITUAL VALUE
Besides meeting the minimum needs, the house is also designed to meet the spiritual needs of the owner - a single poet who uses the house as both a place to live and work. Protecting the dweller from sun and rain, the house becomes part of the owner's soul.- a place where he can talk to himself and the world.
