Ho Chi Minh 시에는 폭이 3.5미터밖에 안되는 협소주택이 있는데 이 집의 가운데는 채광정을 열대 식물로 둘러싼 굽이친 발코니들이 존재한다.
젊은 가족을 위해 현지 회사인 Kientruc 이 디자인한 House 304는 42 평방 미터의 대지에 위치한 불과한 협소주택이다. 이 지역에서 좁다랗게 긴 집들이 흔하긴 하지만 서울만 하더라도 폭이 3미터에 불과한 건물이 있고, 토교에도 2.4 미터 폭의 협소주택도 존재한다. 이렇게 3.5미터 넓이의 평면을 하고 거리를 향해 놓인 주택은 건축가들로 하여금 채광에 대한 미션을 해결하는 일이 큰 과제이다. 이러한 이유로 D자 모양의 아트리움이 블럭 중간에 놓이고, 채광과 더불어 12미터 높이에 달하는 건물 전체에 환기를 위해서 그 측면에 격자무늬의 유리창을 더했다.
Curving balconies featuring tropical planting wrap a lightwell in the core of this narrow home in Ho Chi Minh City that is just 3.5 metres wide.
Designed by local firm Kientruc O for a young family, House 304 occupies a 42-square-metre site in a residential neighbourhood of the city. Its 179-square-metre plan is distributed across four narrow floors, creating a slender building that slots between the walls of existing housing.
Skinny houses are becoming common in densely populated cities, particularly across Asia. Architects in Seoul only had three metres of width to play with when designing a house for multiple occupants, while an example in Tokyo is squeezed into a 2.4-metre-wide gap.
With just one 3.5-metre-wide facade opening onto the street, the architects were presented with the issue of lighting land-locked rooms towards the centre and back of the site.
A D-shaped atrium was introduced into the centre of the block and gridded glazing was added to the facade, providing natural light and ventilation for the 12-metre-long building.
"The design context poses challenges to create a casual, well ventilated, and well lit space within a constrained building footage," explained the architects.
Photography is by Oki Hiroyuki.
"The vertical expansion of the lightwell helps to maximise the desired spatial quality and conditions, while provoking a sense of openness and connectedness to nature as it open up to the sky."
Each of the floors steps back from the street, making room for further small plant-filled balconies along the facade. Within, the floor plan is dominated by large internal terraces around the edge of the open-air well.
Balconies, walls and doorways all feature rounded corners to match the D-shaped lightwell.
Three bedrooms and a study sit behind curving glass walls and curtains on either side of these terraces. Potted greenery and a tree planted directly into the floor of the living room grow up through the atrium towards an elliptical opening in the residence's flat roof.
Indoor gardens are a common feature in many space-tight residences and public buildings in Southeast Asian cities. Plans were recently unveiled for a tree-covered university building in Ho Chi Minh, while elsewhere in the city a house features layers of planting sandwiched between a dozen concrete floors.
"The focal point of the house is the interplay between light and nature," said the architects. "Airy and open, it provides uninterrupted views both inside out, and outside in, but the residence still possesses a sense of private and secure when needed."
The primary living space, containing an open-plan sitting room, dining area and kitchen is located on the ground floor of the building. Dark wooden furnishings and beige upholstery contrast the glossy white floors and stark white walls.
A maid's room occupies the floor above the living room, while two family bedrooms are set on the second and third storeys, and a home office and laundry room sit on the uppermost floor.
"The house is a pure representation depicting the life of a young Vietnamese family, that is straight forward, authentic and contented," said the team.
from dezeen