Many newly developing Asian cities are getting uniformed and loosing its regional characteristics under the influence of the furious urban sprawl and commercialism.
The increasing population is worsening the quality of life and declining greenery. Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest city in Vietnam, is not the exception. “Stacking Green” by VTN Architects, which is a prototypical private house built in 2011, is a challenge to change this situation. There is an interesting custom among the people in Ho Chi Minh City: They love their life with plants and flowers around the streets. Even in the modernized city, people unconsciously desire the substitute for the rampant tropical forest.
“Stacking Green” architectured this custom into a facade composed of planters like horizontal louvers. This green facade contributes not only to visual comfort for the inhabitants but also to upgrade the indoor thermal environment, therefore, saving energy. The semi-open green screen also keeps the privacy and security of the house not in combative but in a friendly manner.
The house, designed for a thirty-years-old couple and their mother, is a typical tube house constructed on the plot 4m wide and 20m deep. The front and back facades are composed of layers of concrete planters cantilevered from two sidewalls. To water plants, the automatic irrigation pipes inside the planters were installed. Rainwater is collected in the tank and pumped up for this irrigation system.
This green facade and roof garden protect its inhabitants from direct sunlight, street noise, and pollution. According to the post-occupancy measurement of the indoor environment, wind flows throughout in the house thanks to the porous façades and two skylights. This result was already proved by the behavior of the inhabitants; they scarcely use the air conditioner even in the tropical climate, their electricity charges are just 25USD per month, thanks to the wind flow and other passive design methods.
