Hanoi La Siesta Diamond Hotel & Spa is located at 32 Lo Su, a 1-minute walk from Hoan Kiem Lake. The hotel has 15 floors, of which from the 13th to the 15th floor is Diamond Sky Bar, which is considered as one of the hotels with the most comfortable and luxurious rooftop area in Hanoi Old Quarter area. The hotel’s rooftop area can accommodate 70 guests, designed to simulate the image of a piano, cleverly combined with green spaces to create a very unique attraction. Coming here, visitors have the opportunity to admire the beautiful panorama of the city with a 360-degree view of the old town of Hoan Kiem Lake and 5 bridges spanning the Red River. In the evening, visitors can enjoy the bustling and bustling scene of the Capital, and the shimmering beauty when the city lights up. The service of the rooftop area of ​​Hanoi La Siesta Diamond Hotel & Spa is also highly appreciated. On the world famous travel website TripAdvisor, a foreign tourist commented: “This is the perfect place to rest in the middle of the city. Great view overlooking both Hoan Kiem Lake and the old town, good live music and beautiful scenery. good drinks”. (Photo taken at the time when international tourists welcome the New Year 2019 in Hanoi).

The facade of the house at 75 Thuoc Bac street. This narrow and deep house is located at 75 Thuoc Bac street, in the middle of Hanoi Old Quarter with 4 households living together. In addition to the facade, the place owned by Ms. Vu Thi Diem – 76 years old is leased as a metal shop. From the perspective of a visitor coming to visit, the address 75 Thuoc Bac seems to be an alley with many closed families, only using the alley as a common passageway. But when entering, quite a few people will be surprised because the living space is “not closed” in the literal sense of the households here. At first, everyone thought this was a common alley. Ms. Diem – a little-known person who has won the Kovalevskaya award with the coating of the 500kV power poles said: “This is just the way from house to house, the families in the alley are mostly elderly people, so most of the families in the alley are elderly. living together does not block the alley because the width is too narrow, only 2.1m, if the alley is divided, there is no room for the bed. She also explained, the lifestyle of households here from the past to now have been used to living together, there is nothing inconvenient as many people think. Ms. Vu Thi Diem explained her “non-closed” alley. In the past, the house was 2.95m wide according to the papers, but during the French period, the wall was quite thick, more than 35cm on each side, not including bricks, but later covered, so now the house is only 7 tiles wide, about 2.1m wide. Households living from eating, sleeping are not closed. This house in turn goes to another house, from the bed, the kitchen, … can pass when the other house is sleeping or eating. Ms. Diem said that she and other households here are used to sleeping or eating with family members passing by because they have lived here for many years. Previously, the house 75 Thuoc Bac had 9 households, but now there are only 4 households living on a single floor without a second floor. Mrs. Diem is the outermost household, so she keeps the key and is in charge of checking the door every morning and evening. House No. 75 Thuoc Bac was formerly the Cu Hien woolen weaving factory from the French period of Mrs. Vu Thi Diem’s ​​family. During the Revolutionary period, the house was chiseled to Hang Bo street and close to Hang Can street. Later, it was filled in, but the house is still 70m deep. Of all the households here, only Mrs. Diem’s ​​house has a second floor, keeping almost intact traces of an old house. Wooden stairs from the early twentieth century. The altar is still preserved intact from the altar, the door frame to the floor tiles. Wooden wall and Tho crossword from before 1945 of Mrs. Diem’s ​​house. “I keep almost everything from the time my father moved here before 1945, but now the second floor is just for storage and worship, but I still sleep and live on the first floor to take care of the house and lock the door” – Mrs. Good omen. Although every household has a key to the outside door, she still carefully checks the door until she goes to bed at night. “While sleeping, it is normal for people to pass by, the houses here are not related but live very well. Before, they used to eat together, but now it’s stopped because each person eats for an hour.” – she added happily. Where Mrs. Diem slept and read books. She also told a story that in the past, when she was doing research in chemistry, she knew many foreign experts and invited them to her house to play, they asked jokingly: Do you sleep in the alley? Why not enter the house, who sleeps in this aisle? The kitchen, toilet and laundry of Mrs. Diem’s ​​house have an open skylight. The Hanoi Old Quarter area has a fairly high population density with many households living in a narrow and non-closed space, but nonetheless for many people here, especially the elderly here since birth and Keeping the old house full of memories of a bygone era is really: “The land has turned into the soul!”. All difficulties in life seem to disappear and sometimes, according to Mrs. Diem: “I’m very happy!”.

Skylights are a popular architectural solution in today’s housing projects, aiming to exploit light and ventilation for townhouses that lack airy surfaces. Being part of a technical element, but a skylight brings a certain aesthetic value and freshness, is a highlight for the interior space of the house.

The skylight next to the stairs, under the skylight is a distinctive staircase as a highlight.

In fact, the sky well has existed since ancient times. In the tube-shaped townhouses in the old quarter of Hanoi, Hoi An, Saigon Cholon area … the well has been applied in construction design to ensure natural lighting and ventilation. These townhouses have a narrow width and great length (depth) – up to tens of meters and also have only 1 or 2 modest open sides (front and back); Meanwhile, the space used by functional rooms stretches along the depth of the house. Skylights here may have roofs, they may not have roofs like an inner courtyard (mostly roofless), architectural form and materials different from current housing, but the nature of the well is still the same. : a clearing from… in the sky, to exploit light and ventilation.

You can watch the whole staircase system from the well.

Skylight is a technical architectural solution to get natural light and ventilation, the solution of microclimate environment; But in fact, the skylight becomes a special space, a highlight of the house. Normally, to exploit the maximum efficiency, the sky well is usually placed in the middle of the house. At that location, sky wells can be exploited to 3 sides (one side is usually adjacent to the boundary wall), for bedroom spaces, toilets, stairs, corridors … or other functional rooms. That central location makes the skylight absorb the vision, make visual impression and easy to invest and care for the beautiful sky, making even the adjacent large space such as the common living room, kitchen … also beautiful. than. Of course, there are also houses with more than one well, and not all houses with a sky well are in the middle of the house.

Skylights are a fairly familiar part of a townhouse today. Sky wells have become necessary, indispensable in the condition of “crowded land”, crowded together in urban areas, and clear conditions of land for house construction are very difficult. There are no similar skylights. Each house is different, each owner has a preference, each architect has an idea … However, there are still common common points to note in order for the “highlight” in the house to be useful in the function. and optimize, as well as overcome disadvantages:

– Sky well is a tube, so the sound transmitted in the well is very clear and resonant. People sitting downstairs talking, people upstairs can hear; lose privacy or annoy each other. So the wall areas in the skylight should not be all smooth and smooth. Need some rough, lumpy patches for sound absorption; such as using hemp paint, cladding natural stone, brick cards, building ceiling tiles …

– If the sky well has no roof, the well bottom must organize the drainage well, and the bottom of the well must be large enough as well as the surrounding area must have a barrier system (walls, walls, doors) for rainwater to fall. Sky well bottom floor does not shoot into the clean living spaces

– With roofed skylights, it is important to note the main wind direction of the area to have a reasonable roof solution, in case when it rains, there is strong wind, it will pour rain through the crevices and openings of the roof to the roof.

– Decorative lights, hanging plants (if any) on the walls of the skylight well must be within reach or have a safety solution to control, avoid difficulties in need of maintenance and repair of lamps – electricity. , take care of bonsai.

– If under the skylight is not a fixed area such as an aquarium, ornamental garden, but a place of passage, or living space; do not hang pots, lamps, or other large – heavy decorations above it can be dangerous.

– The windows, corridors and stairs adjacent to the skylight must have handrails, iron flowers, ensuring safety standards. (height, gap distance)

– In some areas, the summer sun is very hot, especially at noon, the sun shines directly into the wells, which can cause excess light, glare, damage – damage to wooden floors, furniture; It is possible to install a ceiling curtain system under the skylight roof to block the sun and regulate light.