House for Trees by Vo Trong Nghia Architects // Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Treeless metropolises watch out! Vo Trong Nghia architects are helping redefine the urban jungle. Reacting against the disorganised model of high-density living that currently suffocates Ho Chi Minh City, VTN Architects have developed a prototypical oasis for future urban living. Located in the ultra-dense Tan Binh district, the House for Trees project was inspired by the vast tropical jungles that once existed in the region and seeks to solve the environmental, cultural and social problems foreseen for tomorrow’s monster megalopolises.

As Ho Chi Minh City continues to grow and densify at an alarming rate, a burgeoning fear of the lack of green space is forcing architects and urban designers to rethink city infrastructure. Witnessing the detrimental affects of current urban frameworks on air pollution and water pollution as well as our own mental wellbeing, VTN architects multi-residential, high-density housing scheme provides space for the green to flourish once again.

Operating on a tight-as budget of $156,000 USD, five scaled-up pot plants have been configured to provide housing for five ‘family units’, whatever that might mean? Closed to the outside for security reasons, yet opening up on the inside to form a central courtyard, each residence adopts floor to ceiling glazed doors and operable windows to enhance natural lighting and ventilation. Exactly what’s needed for those like me who sweat something wild under South-East Asia’s hot and heavy climate. Whilst the exteriority of the courtyard merges into the ground floor communal living spaces like the kitchen and lounge areas, the more private programs like bathrooms and bedrooms are located above.

Constructed from in-situ concrete with bamboo formwork, as well as locally sourced bricks, the residences each hold up their own arborist ecology. Facilitating the detention and retention of water during downpours, these little residential beauts pay homage to the jungle that once was and focuses attention on the lack of green spaces in our current urban contexts. Hats off to NTV and their future tree-full city utopia.

Related posts:
So Hot Right Now // Trees In Interiors.
Stories On Design // Trees In Interiors, Revisited.

[Images courtesy of Vo Trong Nghia Architects.]