This is the second in a series on houses that exhibit great design choices with regard to materials, configuration, and decorative elements. The first house, my favorite, was posted on 10 March 2006.
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 TP. Hồ Chí Minh 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 located on Nguyễn Thái Bình street in District 1, downtown Sài Gòn, and is the typical four meters wide and five stories tall. Typically, the ground floor accommodates a commercial use and is not usually designed as part of the composition of the upper floors.
Both a positive and a negative grid form the unifying elements of this design, executed in reinforced concrete. Use of concrete for railings and linear elements is an old practice in Vietnamese architecture, but not used as much in these high-tech days with many ways to work metals in Viet Nam.
