house on narrow alley | tran phu

Located deeply in a narrow alley with a high population density, the house was built to ensure private spaces for occupant, but needs to be opened up to nature. Built on a plot of land 4×19m, typical town house in Hochiminh City, where the house has only one opening at front and closed in the three other sides. This conflict is more important when this opening facing the West side, where cruel tropical sunlight always shines harshly. Besides , with as many as three generations living together , so ensuring the personal life of each member with different habits , but not too separated by making their own fortress . The solution chosen is interwoven into the empty space in the used space , the space in between the main factors contributing intermediate against heat and sunny ( shading , to create shade on the balcony facade main ) , bringing natural light and natural ventilation for the room ( courtyard) , especially the rooms don’t have a window toward the nature outside. In addition, these space in between also help to divide physically the different personal spaces , but on the other hand connect them visually with opening angle from this space through the other space, room to room . This solution contributes to expand the room space , avoid using common wall in traditional solution . With the required shade and heat protection, the vertical brise-soleil system is used for the facade, this motif is repeated for all the other parts of the inner facades (facade overlooking the light courtyard) and the details in different location to create unity. The common living spaces such as living room, kitchen + dining are considered as open space that is not partitioned, the private spaces for the bedroom are divided by skylights. In the tropical climate, to ensure the natural ventilation and natural light , the room always have at least two doors open in the oppositional direction.