Project: House for Young Families 01
Architects: H-H Studio
Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
Area: 2.195 sf
Year: 2023
Photographs by: Hoang Le
House for Young Families 01 by H-H Studio
H-Hstudio designed a house for a young family of four, adapting to post-COVID changes where homes serve as workplaces, study spaces, and more. In a new residential area, the project prioritizes economy and adaptability to tropical conditions. The inverted U-shaped structure maximizes green space, allowing direct access to nature.
The flexible design incorporates gardens, balconies, and terraces at different heights, creating a layered, friendly environment. The ground floor features a versatile porch, kitchen, dining area, and workspace, fostering connection and adaptability. The mezzanine hosts the main bedroom overseeing the entire house, emphasizing a clean living environment for the family.
This is a specific work in the project: a house for young families developed by H-Hstudio to adapt to changes in social life in general and architecture in particular after the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically in architecture, the family (house) transforms from a place of residence to a place to live, a place to work, a place to study, a place to communicate, a place to grow crops, a place to exercise, and a place to entertain. For children, adults, and families…the house becomes very important because most of the basic activities and human lifetime take place in the home space.
Our client is no exception to the above changes: the request was to design a house for a young family of 4 members, husband and wife, and 2 small children, both husband and wife working completely remotely. The project construction location is located in a new residential area, with an area of 105m2 (5x21m); the main face faces Southeast (the main cool summer wind direction of Da Nang city). The remaining sides have no adjacent construction works.
A common characteristic of young families is their many dreams, plans, hobbies, family organization… Therefore, before starting to design, we spent time discussing with customers how to work together. Build the most realistic goals for the house:
- Regarding conditions: within an area of 5x21m and a modest economy (1.7 billion VND equivalent to 70,000 USD for total investment): prioritize investment in hardware (basic space) for some items Other (software) such as tables and chairs, vegetable garden. .. will be completed according to needs as well as time and economic conditions.
- Minimize construction density to increase green area and open space
- Adaptable to tropical climate conditions: sun, wind, humidity, rain, storms
- Flexibility in common space
On the ground, the building has a simple (inverted) u-shaped structure symmetrical about the y-axis, with 3 garden spaces interwoven into this structure, allowing functional spaces to directly access the natural environment. The u-shaped structure will increase in height (reduce construction density to less than 50%=46.2m2) and develop flexibly from front to back – the high block at the back will block the west sun and storm winds from the northwest impact on the building – low block The front block aims to help all spaces in the back block (kitchen, 2 bedrooms) directly receive the Southeast wind as well as the light that will shine deep into the courtyard – where the Family members can still easily connect no matter where they are
In terms of space, this flexible structure has created many layers of gardens, balconies, loggias, and terraces at different heights, helping the perspective of the building come alive with many layers, friendliness, and clarity. On the first floor, the kitchen and dining area are behind, so you can see the entire house. The porch is flexibly used as a multi-purpose space: receiving guests, relaxing, working, holding parties, and parking bicycles and motorbikes at night… The porch is combined with the yard and front garden (how 7m land boundary), creating an airy space for 2 children to play in the 63m2 space after school.
Working and study room (size: 3.8×1.8 M) will be used during meetings when need to concentrate…. at other times, the location can be completely flexible depending on the weather and personal needs. The main bedroom on the mezzanine is arranged to observe the entire house and the two children’s bedrooms. We believe a clean living environment is an important start for a young family.
