Project: Cam Hai House
Architects: Idee Architects
Location: Cam Hai Dong, Vietnam
Area: 3,013 sf
Photographs by: Trieu Chien
Cam Hai House by Idee Architects
Idee Architects have designed the Cam Hai House in the town of Cam Hai Dong in Vietnam. This is a spectacular contemporary residence with just over 3,000 square feet of living spaces. This home is placed on a pristine spot that offers breathtaking views of Vietnamese landscape. This house is built for indoor/outdoor living which is something you will immediately notice.
The Project is located on the West of Dam Thuy Trieu, Cam Ranh – the South Central of Vietnam, in the area of 2 ha, including a shrimp farms in the front and the garden area surrounding. In the area there is an old special mango garden facing the effect of urbanization and climate change. The view from the top of rock hill sloping down to where the main house is located, opens up to a vivid landscape picture and the imposing earth and sky.
With the desertification and little rainfall – only two months per year – and the salinization of water source it becomes hard for farmers to cultivate the traditional special mango trees. In parallel, with the sale of sand to back-fills for the surrounding tourism projects. Architects made use of expanding the affecting scope of the work to maintain and restore the surrounding landscape. Together with the retain water solutions, recycling the used and irrigation water to make reservoirs meant to irrigate the surrounding gardens.
Formed from the idea, an architecture connecting to the surrounding landscape and nature. The building which is two blocks stacked one on another, with the long block is located on the highest plane of the land. The stone road leads from the gate to a wider place where you can see the whole of the imposing landscape.
According to Vietnamese traditional solutions, we have a large porch in the Southest, a large terrace overlooking and thick stone walls to insulate the west of the building. The stone walls also contribute to harmonizing with the surrounding landscape. The porch with a frame creates a vivid nature picture, a cover for insulation porch. From the top, the roof, the swimming pool, the courtyard with rectangular volumes harmonize with the the shape of surrounding shrimp farms.
At first the house was designed with green roof on the roof-top to insulate, however the Architects decided to promote the solution of retaining rainwater for living, replacing by the water circulation on the roof to cool. The rainwater is contained in a large underground tank for daily living, meanwhile expanding large lakes to take advantage of terrain and retain rainwater for irrigation. Thereby providing enough water source to re-cultivating the traditional mango garden in the dry months without rain.
The house is located on the hill top with big rocks above. Under the only old traditional mango tree left in the garden, overlooking the distant mountain range. The 3.2m fully high and wide glass doors were used to minimize the footprint, as well as allow to completely open the large corners. Helping the indoor – outdoor spaces harmonize together.
