Nhà Hương House / H-H Studio

Architects: H-H Studio
Area: 238 m²
Year: 2022
Photographs: Hoang Le
Manufacturers: Caesar, Nam Sung
Lead Architect: Huynh Tuan Huy
Construction Manager: Vu Thuy Huynh
Project Designers: Cuong Trung Le, Doan Kim Dung, Thinh Nhat Tran
City: Da Nang
Country: Vietnam

Nhà Hương House, designed by H-H Studio, renovates adjacent land into a living space for a family of five in Da Nang City. Inspired by the memory of Hue, the design bridges past and present, emphasizing traditional family values and communal living. The project features a garden space, reoriented functional areas, and a nearly symmetrical T-shaped structure centered around an atrium. The garden includes fragrant plants and fruit trees, and traditional architectural techniques are employed. The design creates a solid, contemplative atmosphere with a dynamic interplay of light and shadow, encouraging a reflective and gentle living experience.

After purchasing the adjacent land, equal in size to the original house (5×24=120m2), the clients wanted to renovate it into a living space for five members: a couple and their three young children. They desired to maintain a traditional family lifestyle, emphasizing togetherness and shared time. Despite living and working in Da Nang City, a rapidly developing urban area, they hold onto the memory of their hometown, Hue, an ancient capital with UNESCO-recognized heritage sites. The architectural idea was to create a house that evokes the atmosphere, space, and materials of the past, “tinged” with time.

The project is seen as a test of transitioning between the past and present, balancing the preservation of cherished memories with the rapid development of contemporary life, and bridging the gap between imagined places and real-life settings. It was developed with two primary orientations:

Garden Space: The new land serves as a garden, a rare urban green space, oriented westward with the back facing east. This setup allows the tropical garden to receive ample sunlight throughout the year.
Building Functionality: The existing building’s function was altered so that the functional spaces face the south garden, taking full advantage of the optimal southern orientation for the climate in Vietnam, and specifically in Da Nang.

Using the existing concrete structural frame system, the elevations of the first and second floors, the roof, and the fixed dimensions of the building, an almost symmetrical T-shaped structure was created. The atrium space in the dining room serves as the central linking point between the renovated old space and the new construction, which is relatively small compared to the new land (5×3.7m = 18.5m²). The second floor houses a bedroom, while the first floor remains open, extending the dining room into a multifunctional space overlooking the aquarium and garden. This design promotes cooling ventilation in the summer from the east and southeast throughout the building. A bedroom on the first floor connects directly with the garden, providing a communal sleeping area for the whole family, especially when the grandmother visits from Hue. The family typically sleeps there on weekends.

Huong, the wife’s name, also reflects a key feature of the garden. All the plants cultivated in the garden are fragrant when in bloom:

Shrubs: Laurus nobilis L, Jasminum sambac Ait, Antidesma acidum, Rondeletia Leucophylla, Gardenia Jasminoides Ellis, Osmanthus Fragrans.
Fruit trees: Thanh Tra, grapefruit, and Hoang Dieu orange, sourced from Thuy Bieu village in Hue city, where a project is underway to open roads through orchards needing relocation. A grass foundation helps green the surface and facilitates natural water drainage.

The design incorporates typical techniques in traditional architectural layout, including:

Axial symmetry
Centrally located human activities to direct views to intentional locations
Buffer spaces to enhance spatial transitions.

The material options for the house include polished concrete with clear wax for the background, and walls and ceilings that are scratched before being painted with gray cement-based waterproofing. The furniture features a natural wood color, and the lighting uses yellow LED lights. The roof is painted, with thorough testing conducted before official implementation to ensure it embodies the envisioned traditional architectural expressions:

Architectural Solidity: The design emphasizes the solidity of large, rough-surfaced walls.
Contemplative Ambiance: The house creates a quiet, contemplative atmosphere that harmonizes the garden, trees, water surface, light and shadow, gentle scents, and the silhouettes of the building, trees, and leaves. The sky and moonlight reflecting on the lake surface further enhance this serene setting.
Slow Movement: The slow, gentle footsteps of people moving through the changing light in both interior and exterior spaces reveal a blend of dark, gray, and light areas, with patches of light falling on tiled roofs, walls, and concrete floors.