Unique Vietnamese home embraces tranquility with its plots of living trees

By Rick Stella August 30, 2016

vietnamese home living trees vtree9 — 3 Atelier

Fed up with the long hours of market life, a Vietnamese family man decided his best course of action would be to move into a giant tree house — sort of.

In an effort to spend more time with his wife and young children, this unnamed man commissioned the help of 3 Atelier, his nephew’s renowned Ho Chi Minh City-based architecture firm, to design an innovative home geared towards embracing tranquility. From the abundance of living trees to its uniquely constructed tile walls, 3 Atelier’s gorgeously designed home is the epitome of a modern tree house.

Related Videos

As touched on above, 3 Atelier was employed to design this distinctive home to give the family the ability to escape the buzz of city life in favor of time spent connecting with their environment. Growing up, the man’s children had only ever known what it was like to live near the busy market, so he desired to give them an opportunity at a proper, playful childhood.

The resulting abode is astonishing. Its open floor plan allows for a wealth of outside light to pour throughout the home which makes much of it feel like a lush and serene patio. As explained by 3 Atelier, a focus on amplifying the surrounding environment was key.

1 of 7

vietnamese home living trees vtree1 — 3 Atelier

vietnamese home living trees vtree3 — 3 Atelier

vietnamese home living trees vtree4 — 3 Atelier

vietnamese home living trees vtree5 — 3 Atelier

vietnamese home living trees vtree6 — 3 Atelier

vietnamese home living trees vtree7 — 3 Atelier

vietnamese home living trees vtree8 — 3 Atelier

“Uncle’s House reflects [the] featured image of Di Linh Plateau (a former project of the firm), using a wide range of traditional as well as modern materials,” 3 Atelier said on Arch Daily. “All are processed just enough to maintain the nature of material itself. The tile walls proved their power when keeping the house warm at nights and cool during the sunny days. They especially recall the owners to their very old moments living peacefully in a Vietnamese village when they were young. Light also has its own story in this cozy house.”

In addition to the placement of living trees in a few of the home’s open rooms, the plot installed in the kitchen also allows the owners to use its soil to plant and grow vegetables. Highly sustainable — and a far cry from life in the market — 3 Atelier’s brilliant modern tree home is an engineering marvel and one which undoubtedly ignites a dose of envy.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Smart Home

Houston’s Ivy Lofts simplify apartment life by embracing small living spaces

houston to launch smart ivy lofts ivy1

With the housing markets in major U.S. cities continuing to skyrocket, the development of innovatively designed compact apartments has been gaining momentum. Development companies have turned to manufacturing prefabricated modules to help cut construction costs and preserve valuable space. While places like New York City have already had such buildings erected, Houston, Texas will reportedly soon be home to a development dubbed the Ivy Lofts -- and what will otherwise be known as the largest "micro apartment" in the United States.

A project headed by Novel Creative Development, Houston's Ivy Lofts will be an architectural wonder once constructed. Located in the city's East Downtown neighborhood, the designers plan to house more than 500 apartments standing 24 floors tall, with prices starting at roughly $139k. For comparison's sake, Zillow lists the average home price in Houston at around $170k and when you factor in the building's location -- near the city's business and cultural centers -- the Ivy Lofts are a bonafide great deal.

Smart Home

Students try to figure out how to make $20K homes by building in a luxury community

rural studio and serenbe collaborate on 20k homes art farm cottages 0058

Homes at Serenbe, a luxury sustainable living community outside of Atlanta, start at around half a million dollars, so it might not be the first place you’d expect Rural Studio to erect a 20K Houses, so named because a $20,000 mortgage is likely the most someone living on the median Social Security could afford.

Rural Studio is part of the Auburn University architecture program and is focused on community-oriented projects. Students have come up with 16 prototypes for houses that would cost $20,000: $12,000 for materials and the rest for labor and profit. Serenbe has an artist residency program, as well as the land and resources to see a couple of the 20K Houses through production.

Smart Home

The Pod House is 432 square feet of high-tech, net zero living

the pod house is a net zero tiny home at kbis 2016 nextgen hometv smarthome 0468

“We like to say, 'All you need but nothing you don’t,'” James Gregory of Shelter Dynamics says of his net-zero Pod House. The 432-square-foot home was on display at the 2016 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show as part of NGHTV’s Tiny Town. The oblong structure and arched ceiling echo the sailboat Gregory built for his wife, and the tiny home is just as self-sufficient. It also has a similar storage capacity, he says.

Thanks to its solar panels and BMZ lithium battery, the house can be powered for about a day and a half per charge. The Toto shower gets warm thanks to an AET solar water heating system. The Swiss Roll-shaped house has R-40 insulation and triple-pane windows and was designed to withstand 150-mile-per-hour winds. The compact interior is full of tech, with lights and Yale smart locks that run on AT&T’s Digital Life platform.