Experience the Ultimate Waterfront Living: SDA Architects Unveils Spectacular Floating House in Thu Duc!

The Blank Space: A Mostly Outdoor House Designed for a Young Vietnamese Couple

Located in the lush suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, the Blank Space house designed by SDA Architects offers a unique take on contemporary tropical living. The young Vietnamese couple who commissioned the house wanted a space that maximized the site and location advantages while bringing them closer to nature. The site was covered in tropical vegetation, but it was often flooded by the nearby river, which led to the surrounding buildings having their first floor elevated more than 80cm above the street level. The couple requested that the first floor of their house be elevated 1m above the street level.

The site's uniqueness is one of the Vietnamese geological characteristics of the submerged landscape, and SDA Architects sought to harness it by composing the house as three slabs floating above the ground. The slabs vary in shape between the upper and lower floors and are connected to all outdoor spaces, including the rooftop, by an outdoor staircase independent from the interior. In other words, all circulation is continuous using the outdoor space without cutting through the indoor.

The Blank Space house attempts to reinterpret the conventional Vietnamese concrete frame construction method by using a ribbed slab to extend the floor as a cantilever while using slender columns to support it. The columns have minimum dimensions of 300 x 150 mm, working with a second-floor beam width of 150 mm to make the slab thickness appear extremely small. The result is a light design in which the interior and exterior are continuous, and the slab seems to float above its surroundings.

Including the rooftop, nearly 70% of the floor of this house is outdoors. When folding doors are opened, almost all the space is outdoors, except for a bathroom box. On hot days, a pleasant breeze flows through the openings, and when it rains, the air is instantly cooled by vaporization. Along with the open outdoor space of Vietnam, this is a tropical residence where one can always feel close to nature.

The Blank Space house is a perfect example of an outdoor house that caters to the needs of a young Vietnamese couple. In Vietnam, where everything is packed tightly together, including people and things, it is essential to design outdoor spaces that serve as "Blank Spaces." This house focuses on the active outdoor life in Vietnam, with a new frame and structural design to realize it.