Nestled into the heart of Vietnam’s Vung Tau Province, the Lan House, a recent design completed by innovative company H2, provides a family with a space that allows them to both live comfortably and conduct business easily, each in perfect harmony with the other.
The owner of this unique house worked with designs to divide the house into two theoretical parts; the body and soul. In practicality, these parts are the ground floor, on which the family’s rice business functions and flourishes, and the second floor, where they love together in peace and privacy. The ground floor becomes a semi-public space because it’s here that the facade of the house runs along the bustling street, allowing customers to pop in and out as their needs arise. At the same time, the family’s private quarters above stay just that; private, quite, and calm.
Despite the fact that most living functions are located all together on the second floor fo the home, the space feels far from cramped or limited. The floor holds all the necessary pieces a family would need to live comfortably and with space. The private parts of the house are located further to the back, away from the busy, dusty street filled with the activity of the business space below. Designers created some delineation upstairs using ventilation bricks, closing the space off for privacy without making it feel entirely shut in.
Immediately upon entering the upper living quarters, you’ll encounter a stunning indoor garden designed to make the space feel bright and breathable. Beyond this, the floor also features a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a restroom with its own laundry space. Smaller version of the main inner garden spill over into each of these rooms, continuing the theme of fresh greenery throughout.
Past the common living spaces nearer the front of the structure, two spacious bedrooms, each with their own restroom, rest at the back of the upper floor, with a large terrace connecting them on the far side. This allows for privacy or social space, as dwellers choose.
Throughout both floors, greenery-filled, cushion clad nooks and seating areas can be found throughout the house. This keeps the entire building feeling social and lively without sacrificing family spaces. At the front facade of the building things feel closed because of the closed off, cube-like brick structure featured all up the front, but towards the back, things open up considerably for a much airier experience. To really drive home how spacious this place remains despite the inclusion of a whole business on the ground floor, three entire generations of family live comfortably together in this space!
Within their central tenet of valuing the “body and soul” of the house, designers also worked with the owner to uphold their appreciation for religion and the passing of time. Homages to the owner’s Catholicism can be seen throughout the decor steam, in several stylish statement pieces. At the same time, several aspects of the original house outlived the renovation untouched in order to preserve the fact that this space in its first iteration was actually also the owner’s childhood home once upon a time!
Photos by Quang Dam
