A new house in Ho Chi Minh City has taken out the big housing award at the World Architecture Festival in the Philippines.
The Binh house, by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, has been judged the best house in the world for 2017.
But while the stacked Jenga-like form of this new house in Ho Chi Minh City gives it a strong sense of solidity and permanence, the house is also about maximising natural light and forging close links with nature, which are often missing in modern cities.
"Under the rapid urbanisation, cities in Vietnam have diverged far from their origins as low-density tropical green spaces," the company says. "Newly developed urban areas are losing their connection with nature."
The Binh house is one project in the firm's "House for Trees" series, designed to provide green space within a high-density neighbourhood.
Here, garden terraces are positioned on top of the vertically stacked spaces. This strategy improves the microclimate by providing natural ventilation and daylight in every room. But it has another benefit, and it's all to do with family connection.
The company says the family comprises three generations, and the other big challenge was to create spaces that would allow interaction and communication, despite the difference in ages.
The roof gardens host large trees for shading, which helps reduce the indoor temperature. Vegetables can also be planted.
Vo Trong Nghia Architects says that at the time of entering the awards, the residents had still not used the air conditioning.
"The architecture is not only designed to meet the functional and aesthetic concerns, but also to provide a means to connect people to people and people to nature."
Source : Stuff New Zealand
