Architect renovates a 30-year-old house with creative idea
Renowned architect Nghiem Dinh Toan has come up with a creative design to give a 30-year-old house in Ngoc Khanh Ward, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, a new lease of life.
Located in a small alley, the house has treasured many beautiful memories of a three-generation family. It was built for former senior Army officers in the late 1980s. During this period, most houses were constructed firmly and the interior was divided by the concrete frame system and the load-bearing wall.
Its total area is sufficient for the use of all family members, but the traffic among the rooms is overlapped, making some of the spaces inconvenient or unusable. For example, they have to pass the grandparents’ bedroom to climb up to the 2nd floor, most of the rooms lack natural light and there is only one toilet on the 1st floor. Each generation has different schedules, so owning private spaces is also one of their aspirations.
Despite being renovated several times, the two-story house has not properly met the needs of each family member. In this time renovation, they expect it to not only preserve their old memories but also better suit their needs.
Architect Toan came up with three design options that focus on creating a space connecting the two floors through the different positioning of the atrium and the stairs. He suggested the first option is changing the room area location. The kitchen is placed into the position of the current bedroom, with a small garden in front to create a view. Meanwhile, the living room will be expanded and directly connected to the balcony. This plan creates a smooth and continuous space for the house and allows the owners to have a large garden.
Another opinion is to keep the kitchen at the original position. The atrium is placed in the current bedroom and a spiral staircase is used as an attractive point of view, placed in the middle of the atrium area. This option solves the ventilation issue of the kitchen while ensuring smooth traffic between private and shared spaces.
And the 3rd option is the most suitable option when it combines the advantages of the two options above. In this option, the kitchen is kept in its current position and the staircase is used as an independent object but still interacts with the surrounding furniture to create a spacious space that meets the needs of the owners.
After the renovation, the first floor serves as space for dining, guest reception, kitchen and grandparents’ bedroom. The kitchen has an opening door to take in the natural light and is separated with a thin layer of sliding doors to avoid affecting other spaces when in use.
The living room and dining room are extended to be sufficient for over 20 people and provided with natural light after layers of walls are removed. This renovation has significantly improved the space and the lighting of the building.
The staircase placed in the living room as an independent item connects to the shared space of the 2nd floor, easing movement from the private to the shared spaces and avoiding interference with other spaces.
The living room is enlarged to reveal the reinforced steel structure, and the distinction between old and new is showcased through the effect of the paint colors. The sofas are designed to be harmonious with the staircase, while the reinforced steel columns in the dining room are covered with round plasterboard. The reinforced steel column system therefore can only be seen in the living room, making two different functional spaces easily recognisable.
The decision to change the design of the ceiling has brought many good effects for the whole building. In private spaces such as bedrooms, the individuality of each user has been shown through colors and interior materials.
Now all the private spaces have large windows and look out to the outside while still having easy access to the shared spaces thanks to the reasonable layout and traffic.
Finally, by creating a dialogue between the new and the old structure, allowing the parallel presence of these two elements throughout the entire space, the design has met the new living needs of the owners and at the same time, still respected the spiritual and material values of the house since its early days.
The whole process of the house renovation is filmed in the 9th episode of the architectural reality TV show “La Nha” (Makeover Your Home), broadcast on VTV3 channel and Mega Live Stream of VCCorp. It is jointly produced by WOWMedia and Van Phu – Invest Joint Stock Company.
In the show, famed Vietnamese architects will come up with designs to “refresh” the beloved houses of ten participants, turning them into resting places that comfort the owners’ emotions and treasure their own meaningful life stories. Ten participants from different walks of life bring ten different stories. However, they all have one thing in common - the desire to create a true home. The architects of “La Nha” not only resolve the house owners' concerns, but also listen to their stories and aspirations to realize the ideas for their dream houses and true homes.
Renovating a house is not just breaking and smashing here and there, or moving soulless concrete blocks; it is a journey of reshaping the space while keeping sentimental significance. According to Architect Le Anh Tuan (Deputy Manager of R&D Department of Van Phu - Invest) - Consultant of the show “La Nha”, it is important that the house-repairing process must retain the distinctive characteristics of the house, since it not only forms an interesting feature of the building but also carries the origin of a home, or broadly speaking, it preserves parts of the history and culture.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Architect Nghiem Dinh Toan
Architect Nghiem Dinh Toan is the founder of me+architect, a professional architecture company in planning, landscape, architecture and interior design. The company has launched a series of projects under the leading corporations in resort real estate and operation, in the field of Hospitality domestically and internationally, notably, the project of GEM CENTER and White Palace Event and Exhibition Center in Ho Chi Minh City.
Nghiem Dinh Toan graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture with honors and University of Salford with an excellent master's degree.
He has over 15 years of experience working as Chief Architect, Senior Manager at Vo Trong Nghia Architecture Office, A21studio, Atlas before founding me+architect.
In 2014 – 2015, Toan was the first Vietnamese to win the first prize of the World Architect Festival (WAF), held in Singapore. This is a prestigious, large-scale global award and is likened to the Oscars of the Architecture industry. He was also invited to become a member of the jury.
In 2016, he won the first prize of the Archmarathon in Italy.
In December 2021, White Palace Event and Exhibition Center in Ho Chi Minh City was once again nominated for the final of the WAF, held in Portugal.
Not only the design director of me+, Toan is also known as a speaker and content consultant for television programs, magazines, events, and conferences on architecture, interior and construction.
