For a long time, gardening and drying rice have become a spiritual image associated with houses in Vietnamese villages; However, the process of urbanization is gradually changing this traditional architecture and space. Understanding these values, the architect team of TAA DESIGN designed a project called Red Roof House for a 50-year-old couple born and raised in the Quang Ngai village in 2019. It is known that Red Roof House is a mezzanine tube house on an area of ​​​​80m2, located next to the main road of the village. Due to the limited land fund, the architects have integrated many functions such as living room, kitchen, outdoor wood stove cooking area, bedroom, toilet, drying yard, granary, chicken yard,… The ground floor combines with a small courtyard in front, middle and back of the house to connect the spaces together Because the area of ​​the function rooms is quite small, the cooking area is open-air so that the house is well ventilated, preventing smoke and heat from the kitchen from entering. In particular, the group of architects designed the courtyard on the mezzanine floor into an agricultural garden cum roof. In the garden grow clean vegetables such as morning glory, squash, onions, cabbage, celery, … to provide for the family or for relatives and villages. In addition, the vegetable garden also plays a role in insulating the house, so that the temperature inside the house is significantly improved compared to the surrounding corrugated iron roof houses. Thanks to the uniqueness and creativity in the design of rural houses, the Red Roof project once won the award “Thematic about sustainable social-humanistic housing solutions” and resonated greatly. Ground floor design drawing (01: Bicycle; 02: Front yard; 03: Porch; 04: Living room; 05: Kitchen and dining room; 06: Middle courtyard; 07: Toilet; 08: Barn: 09) : Master bedroom: 10: Wardrobe; Backyard). Mezzanine floor design drawings (01: Stairs; 02: Changing room; 03: Bedroom; 04: Toilet; 05: Middle courtyard; 06: Space; 07: Vegetable growing area).

Tony Fruit office is located in District 4, HCMC, where the construction rate is high with most of the buildings being built as commercial centers and office buildings. The site is located on a junction with a glimpse of the park and the public square. However, the two main facades of the building receive direct sunlight from dusk until dawn, causing overheating problems for the interior. The idea of ​​​​”empty green block” creates an intermediate layer to shade the sun, but still exploits the open vision for the interior space. At the same time, create an outdoor garden space by cutting blocks. On the other hand, setting back the rudimentary construction creates spaces for outdoor greenery that help create a natural skin covering the facades exposed to daylight. With the green system surrounding the building, every space in the office overlooks the fresh green space, and each floor is connected with the outdoor garden, the gardens on the floors see each other, helping everyone enjoy than. The system of square louvers effectively shade the sun from diagonally into the building, while the large glazing system receives scattered light to help the building save electricity costs for lighting and cooling. Meanwhile, the setback glass receives more reflected light, which is beneficial for cooling and lighting costs in building maintenance. The green block is a possible solution in improving the working space conditions for urban buildings in cities with the same tropical environment as HCMC. Tony Fruit Office Design unit: TAA Design Lead architect: Nguyen Van Thien Architects: Nguyen Van Thien, Nguyen Van Thuan, Le Thi Huong, Le Nha Vy Area: 225 m² Year: 2020 An Yen – Image: Hoang Le