ZAKK and MB'S House / Sawadeesign

Curated by Fernanda Castro
May 12, 2018

Architects: Sawadeesign Studio
Area: 72.0 m²
Year: 2018
Photographs: Quang Trần
Manufacturers: Anfaco Lighting, Cambridge audio, Dulux, Elip Interior, Marshalls, Maxilite, Roland, TOA, Toto

Text description provided by the architects. Zakk&MB's house is a renovation project that we decided to make a light impact on the house to create a much better living space for the new house owners. However, this requires much time to focus on details for the spaces.

Zakk & MB’s House is a renovation project located in a typical residential area of Binh Thanh district, HCMC. Its status quo has a 4X18 m2 site, 4 stories, and was constructed in 15 years ago with a very particular style of Vietnamese narrow house. The existing stair system divided the house into 2 parts: front and back where placed different functions. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on 2 passive design factors: natural lighting and ventilation.

This aims to recreate a better living space for a new young couple and their two dogs. With different house owners, the new functions of the house are much simpler and more efficient. We proposed a gentle and economic change: replacing all concrete walls around stair system with a transparent metal boundary with bamboo pattern. This way increases connection between the front and the back spaces. Maximizing the open door frames in the façade brings more natural lighting into the house. Because of the U-shaped stair system, it reduces vertical lighting into the house. Therefore, we create a natural lighting void in the back of the house. This void brings vertical lighting to a small garden on the second floor.

The signature of this solution is the void in the back of the house. It changes existing dark closed rooms into bright and lively spaces, in the meantime, it solves the ventilation and lighting matters of the house.