QT House is located in Hanoi, Vietnam, on a quiet and small alley with only a 9 feet wide road and approach to the home. Designed by Landmak Architecture, QT House has a small garden space, including a large tree on the 4th floor terrace with an amazing bespoke stairwell leading up to it.
The rusty balustrade and its word art laser cuts stop short of the floor by about 6 steps which keeps the stairwell from overpowering the narrow home.
The first part of the home, just inside the exterior folding doors and next to the stairwell is considered the garage and behind it is the kitchen which opens to a very narrow terrace that holds a sink and a water closet.
QT House is four levels with the kitchen and garage on the main level and living room, library and washroom on the second level.
Since the homeowners need to travel several flights of stairs throughout the day, the idea of making the stairwell a unique piece of art keeps the vertical journey fun and lighthearted.
The stairwell arrives on the second floor just across from the washroom. A second laser cut panel of rusty metal acts as a divider between the stairwell and the living room and also creates a natural separation between the social living space and the quieter library on the back end of the second floor.
The letters within the metal screen form sentences such as “WE SAY I’M SORRY”.
The void shaped letters also create fun and interesting shadow effects on the stairwell and its walls.
The stairwell landing on the third floor also arrives opposite a bathroom and on either side of this zone are bedrooms with long closets on a designated wall.
The bedroom at the front of the house has a desk across from it while the bedroom at the back of the house has its desk next to it.
The headboard wall in the front bedroom narrows in width creating a tiny “lit” niche between the bed and the closet.
The window in the bedrooms, like the rest of the house are all created with rusty iron frames similar to the stairwell detail.
The next flight does not feature rusty metal screens but keeps the light and shadow effects going with the use of standard cinder block walls. It does however, just like the previous floors, arrive across from the 4th floor bathroom.
The cinder block walls create the illusion of an outdoor space, helped along by the roof void over the 4th floor terrace that just happens to include a large tree. Nice!
Since the row house has no actual outdoor garden, this is the next best thing.
When the glass doors are slid and stacked out of the way, the room next to the terrace becomes part of the outdoor space.
Natural slate tiles used on the terrace’s bench and wall bring in and added organic warmth and Zen factor.
The ambiance defies its fourth floor location.
The terrace also has a railed opening to the street.
Landmak Architecture.
Photography by Le Anh Duc and Trieu Chien.
Including a tree garden inside a home is a great way of connecting with nature when there is no space for an actual outdoor garden. While Landmak Architecture chose to create their tree garden on the 4th floor of QT House, a two story inner tree garden can be located anywhere in a house, including on the street level, and if you are lucky enough to have pre-existing trees on your property you can always design a home built around trees.
Four Storey Row House with an Amazing Stairwell
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