This is the first in a series of postings showing what I feel are the best of houses in Ho Chi Minh City. These are houses that exhibit great design choices with regard to materials, configuration, and decorative elements. My own tastes run to modernism and precedents (such as art deco). I am finding that there are many more great examples of good modernist design in Ho Chi Minh City than in any other place I have been (limited though my experience might be, but that experience includes cities known for good modernist design such as Miami FL and Mexico City).
This house is just 50 meters down the hem (lane) from my own rented house in HCMC (a simple but not great modernist design). This house is at 72 Phan Xich Long off hem 14. The overall configuration uses the very simple and crisp structure to frame simple openings and decorative elements.
A very elegant stone has been used to separate openings, and just the right touch of color has been added at each floor to enhance the configuration. There seems to be great pride in craftsmanship exhibited all over Viet Nam in decorative elements using steel or plaster. In this case, the entry grill is very well-crafted and elegant. The designer has made very good choices of materials and combined them very skillfully.
The owner told me that a civil engineering firm designed this house for him, as well as another house just down the block with similar choices of materials, but the configuration is more asymmetrical.
