mel schenck envelops breeze house's façade with lattice screens in vietnam

mel schenck envelops breeze house’s façade with lattice screens in vietnam
photography by oki hiroyuki

described as a modernist structure with an information-age face, architect mel schenck has designed his own home in ho chi minh city, vietnam. set in-between two buildings, the construction focuses on taking advantage of the tropical climate and maximizing the indoor and outdoor opportunities throughout the entire property.

most noticeable and characteristic about the residence is its distinctive façade. a continuous white steel screen envelops the front of the house, and like a bird cage, the delicate frame covers all the balconies, enabling the windows and doors to remain open at all times. besides having a decorative aspect, the screen aids in natural ventilation and privacy.

louvered glass windows at the top of the house allow ventilation to travel down the atrium, and along with the transparent screen, a constant breeze can be felt throughout the four-storey space. the design is also a nod to the evolving modernist architecture in vietnam. the combination of splayed balcony edges on each floor enables the width to be maximized to three meters and in turn, blurs the boundaries between inside and out.

‘this house is my design experiment. i believe that architecture should represent the values and changes of contemporary times. recent large projects around the world, including museums, cultural centers, and government buildings, have clearly shown the direction for architecture in the information age. designed by architects such as frank gehry and zaha hadid, they display many of the hallmarks of our times, including randomness, dissonance, and amorphousness. such an architecture can really only be realized through computers and parametric software to deal with multiple variables required in the information age, resulting in complex free-form materials and forms.’ – mel schenck, architect

the residence is four-storeys

outdoor patio is sheltered partially by the screen

the ground floor level

natural ventilation is effective throughout, minimizing the use of air conditioning

the steel grid envelops the house at the outside of all balconies, so windows and doors may remain open at all times

a vegetable garden has been installed on the roof

greenery grows through the lattice screen

the angular edges of the balconies, set back a meter from the one below, compels the steel grid to cascade down

the splayed edges of the balconies allow the width to be three meters instead of one meters

the breeze house at night