The Rouge is a project to create an annex for a sushi restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. The project involved the renovation of an adjacent building to maximize the number of private rooms and space available for the backyard. The existing building is an old brick-masonry townhouse, with a simple and powerful space surrounded by a high roof and thick side walls. However, repeated renovations have fragmented the space, obscuring its original characteristics. The bare brick walls, exposed after the removal of all added structures and decorative materials, revealed various traces that evoke the events that took place in the building. The project aimed to inherit and enhance the building's history while accommodating the necessary re-fragmentation required by the new program.
Two boxes were inserted into the building to house various functions. The placement of the boxes was determined to preserve as much of the existing brick surface as possible. The new boxes, which structurally function as buttresses, were covered with the same quality brick as the existing building. However, due to the difference in their history (constructed vs. excavated), there is a variation in texture between the new and old walls. The existing walls are rough and exhibit a patchwork pattern with bricks from different eras embedded in them; whereas the new walls are uniform and subdued. The interiors of the private rooms, located within the boxes, were finished with flat and smooth wood panels. Through openings in the walls of each private room, glimpses of the history engraved in the bricks can be observed.
Entering the building through the natural-colored courtyard garden, a vermilion-painted ceiling emerges in a space unified in black. The color and shape of the ceiling, reminiscent of "something Japanese," link the program of a sushi restaurant to the space. Simultaneously, they alter the experience of the schematic spatial composition through the insertion of the boxes. The irregular origami ceiling, extending from the entrance, enriches the sequence of the long and narrow hallway between the existing and new walls, and dynamically shapes the private rooms in the attic. The transformed coffered ceiling, integrating the rails of the movable partitions, appears to float in the three private rooms in a row, contributing to the tranquility of the space. This coexistence of stillness and movement may also resonate with Japanese sensibilities.
