Half Roof House / AD+ studio

Save this picture!

+ 51

Save this picture!

Text description provided by the architects. For the first time coming here, we have the feeling about the depth of an “aged” house which is filled with its owners’ habit and memories from the very first years after Liberation.

Save this picture!

The owners are a retired couple who want to renovate this house into a more spacious place to enjoy time with their children and grandchildren, particularly in some special occasions like TET. The old house is built on a weak ground and located in a local officers’ resident.

Save this picture!

As time gone by, city replaces towns; new houses replace the old ones. However, this two semi-detached house has managed to preserve their original form after several restorations, not perfectly but adequately to keep the spirit of a traditional Southern houses. The combination in this two semi-detached house has put a silent note on the neighborhood’s transformation trend.

Save this picture!

Design method is to keep a half of the existing roof and the gutter in order to remain the harmony for the whole scene and the spirit of a Southern house. From this, the “HALF ROOF” language is applied for the back block to make the uniformity for the building. The forming language beginning from the existing house will make the house modern but familiar. The old structure is handled in a new way; the columns under gutter are retreated, steel structure is used to make a 5-meter span, which creates a completely opening space, the inner and the outer of the house which are separated by slide doors are connected through this space. Trees are put into groups which cover the lodge. These help the house’s owner preserving their living habit under the porch, around the garden but in a generous and contemporary building.

Save this picture!

Materials, jardinières and furniture taken from the old house are selected, redecorated, reused, and cleverly organized to put back to the new house in the combination with several new parts. As a result, the memories of this house, this street, and of those who has lived here are maintained.

Save this picture!

This construction is located in the countryside of Vietnam where the living style and habit of the residents thereby have been changing due to the impact of the city living style. The new construction at present creates more closed space which is designed to be clear, lightning and filled with amenities but destroy the relationship among people. Accordingly, the living habit of the local residents follows the trend toward closed environment.

Save this picture!

In this house, we desire to preserve the great value, hospitality, “open” way of living of the residents living in the river region: the way they share feelings to each other and to the living environment; the way they care for each other; the way they open the door to welcome visitors or the way they open their heart.

Open house, open hearts.

Save this picture!

Product Description. With the limited budget, most of the old house’s recyclable materials are reused: patterned tiles are cleaned and utilized for tiling the living room’s floor, old roof tiles of the subordinate space are for decorating the culinary ceiling, the mezzanine structure frame and planks are reused for the new upstairs, the old laths, battens of the roof have become the porch louvers.

Save this picture!

Local materials are used for other parts of the building so that the shipping cost is saved and the local atmosphere is created for the house: the clay tiles, mortar coating in combination with trees, terracotta block tiles for lighting, firewood becoming lighting screen of the structure frame. The new building still keeps most of the living style as well as the memories of its owner through the way of selection and reuse of old materials.