The organisers of the WA Awards 10+5+X 34th Cycle in Architecture and Interior Design sections have announced a total of 54 different winning projects hailing from 27 different countries, featuring a fantastic mix of building types, spanning from Cambodia to Albania and Malaysia to Germany.
“Ha House” created by local architect Vo Trong Nghia is named the winner in earlier cycles of the Realised category. The site is a private house project for a three-generation family living in an emerging residential area that is located a 15-minute drive from the centre of Ho Chi Minh City.
The newly built houses around the site come together to form a highly dense neighbourhood, each sharing the outer wall with each other. The site of the project is narrow, measuring just seven metres wide by 20 metres long.
The area’s residents hope to enjoy a large swimming pool, space for exercise, a bedroom for the grandmother of the house, a living room, a dining room with a kitchen, and a sufficient parking lot, all on the ground floor.
The client’s initial request is “a large green garden” that is suitable for children to play while adults can host a BBQ with their family and friends.
Among such typically dense residential development areas found throughout Asia, the architects decided to propose a housing strategy that is relevant for the tropical climate, while plenty of greenery and residents live intertwined.
Each floor features a terrace of a different size according to its function. In some places, it has been designed as a private garden that residents can access directly from their own bedroom.
In some other spaces, the terrace serves as public garden which everyone can enjoy together. All of the gardens are individual spaces that can also be considered as “one continuous garden” where residents and kids can access through by the steel staircase outside.
Most notably, as the building rises from the ground floor, it gradually begins to be pushed back while twisting.
On the top floor of the building, the house is configured to protrude a two metre cantilever to the main road. The stepped gardens of the house are then intertwined with the terrace as they connect and continue onto the top floor.
Depending on the type of trees, they serve to create an umbrage that is capable of filtering the harsh sunlight, greatly cooling down the air for residents inside the house. In addition, each tree also functions as a mask that covers the view from the main road.
