Situated in the vibrant metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, this sleek home from MM++ Architects attempts to circumvent the concrete jungle with a unique wall of indoor greenery and bright, tall social spaces. Built for a young family of four, the home’s design also takes the all-important matter of the group’s solitude into account, with many clever solutions to deliver on privacy without compromising on openness. The residence has one principal living space, an unpartitioned combination of living room and kitchen for the entire family to enjoy as a group, and that space is set back from the street to allow views out onto a courtyard instead of a busy road. Each public and private room has its own personality fitting that of its occupant(s), but universal elements are carried throughout the house to invoke an overall design motif. The house is spacious, bright, and full of interesting modern design themes without giving up any practical considerations in return.
The home itself is decidedly modern and minimal even from the street, poking out above a courtyard wall with traditionally-patterned gates. With tall neighboring buildings, the architecture of the family house is careful to protect privacy without diminishing natural light.
The courtyard has an unkempt charm about it, with short grass growing up in the wide gaps between the driveway’s concrete slabs and various shrubs flourishing on every property wall.
The home’s kitchen and living room are a completely integrated space, with absolutely no walls between them. Behind an interlude of spectacular tropical ferns, a hallway leads to the home’s private areas.
Though the family abode has significantly less glass wallspace than is common in modern residential architecture, bright colors, ample lighting, and plenty of floorspace still help keep the main room open.
A large strip of ceiling is done away with and replaced with a two-story-tall skylight, allowing plants that would typically be unsuited for an indoor environment to flourish without a large window area to accommodate for it. In a closely-packed city environment, this is key to retaining privacy while still enjoying large plant life.
The most abundant plant life on the home’s property, paradoxically, is in the kitchen, with head-height plants native to the humid climate of Vietnam.
On the front-facing side of the kitchen, too, plant life can be experiences. The reedy plants outside spring up in front of a long over-counter window.
Both of the home’s children’s bedrooms are on the bottom floor behind the living area, with ultramodern furnishings built into the overall design theme, accented with neon colors.
An understated array of steps leads up from the main home to two bedrooms upstairs, one the master and one for guests.
The darkest, most mature area of the home is the master bedroom, far removed from the brighter spaces below it. The wall color and flooring are carried over from the rest of the house, but all the room’s furnishings and decor are decidedly darker than the general air of the rest of the dwelling’s spaces.
The master bathroom sink is actually integrated into the bedroom, with the rest of the bathroom hidden around the corner. This allows a design in which both the master bedroom and its bathroom are accessed from the same door, and in which flooring and wood finishes are carried over without interruption.
MM++ Architects
