Half Solid House / Túi Studio

Architects: Túi Studio
Area: 175 m² (Gross Floor Area)
Site Area: 100 m²
Year: 2025
Photography: Anh Chuong
Lead Architects: Nhung Pham
Interior Design: Nhung Pham, Cat Nguyen
Technical Design: Ngoc Vi, Thanh Nguyen
Contractor: Local builders
Structural Engineering: The Anh
City: Hoang Hoa Tham Street, Vung Tau Ward, Ho Chi Minh
Country: Vietnam

Half Solid House, designed by Túi Studio, is a residential project in Vietnam that examines how openness and privacy can coexist within the constraints of dense urban living. Developed for a family seeking a close relationship with outdoor space and the surrounding neighborhood, the house adopts a spatial arrangement that balances environmental exposure with the practical requirements of domestic life. Approximately half of the residence is dedicated to flexible, semi-open communal areas, while the remaining enclosed spaces accommodate specific household functions. A continuous envelope of white vertical louvers establishes the project’s architectural identity, moderating western sunlight and screening everyday activities from the adjacent alleys. Sliding doors provide an additional degree of flexibility, allowing the occupants to adjust the privacy of shared areas. Planting zones on the ground floor and elevated metal platforms accommodate the family’s interest in growing vegetation, introducing an evolving natural element into the building’s exterior. Completed in 2025, the 175 m² residence explores an intermediate approach to tropical urban housing, where layered boundaries support natural ventilation, environmental protection, and connections between indoor and outdoor living.

Half Solid House by Túi Studio occupies a compact 100 m² corner plot at the intersection of two alleys in Vung Tau. The site’s configuration presented an opportunity to introduce abundant daylight and natural ventilation through its two exposed edges, but also created challenges associated with its immediate urban surroundings. The extended west-facing facades receive intense afternoon sunlight, while opening the residence extensively toward the neighboring alleys risked compromising the family’s privacy. These conditions informed an architectural strategy that addresses solar exposure and visual screening without disconnecting the home from its surroundings.

The design introduces a secondary envelope of white vertical louvers, enclosing the semi-open portions of the residence and establishing a protective layer between the interior and the street. This continuous screen reduces exposure to western sunlight while limiting direct views of household activities from the adjacent alleys. Rather than relying on a fully enclosed external wall, the architects developed a filtered boundary that accommodates the family’s preference for open-air living while responding to the environmental and social conditions of the site.

Internally, the residence is organized through gradual transitions between communal and private areas, with varying degrees of openness and functional flexibility. Sliding doors allow residents to regulate the privacy of shared spaces by adjusting their connection to adjacent areas. In contrast, the more private portions of the house are arranged around defined domestic functions, including sleeping, circulation, laundry, storage, and bathrooms. This organization establishes a distinction between adaptable gathering spaces and dedicated rooms without treating openness and enclosure as mutually exclusive conditions.

Vegetation became an important consideration as the design developed. Conversations with the homeowners revealed their interest in growing and caring for plants, leading the architects to incorporate dedicated planting areas into the residential layout. At ground level, these spaces accommodate greenery within the house, while metal platforms on the upper floors provide additional locations for potted plants. Positioned between the louvered envelope and the windows, the platforms allow the family to arrange and maintain vegetation along the building’s perimeter.

The resulting facade combines the simplicity of the architectural framework with the changing presence of plants. As the vegetation develops, it softens the appearance of the white vertical screen, introduces additional shade, and further filters views between the residence and its surroundings. Its arrangement remains dependent on the family’s ongoing involvement, allowing the building’s external character to evolve through everyday occupation and care.

Beyond its immediate residential requirements, the project addresses a broader challenge associated with contemporary housing in Vietnamese cities. Although openness remains an important principle of tropical architecture, concerns about privacy, air pollution, heat, and noise increasingly complicate the relationship between domestic interiors and the surrounding environment.

Through its combination of screened facades, adjustable shared areas, and integrated planting, Half Solid House investigates the architectural possibilities that exist between complete openness and enclosure. The project demonstrates how intermediate spaces can help reconcile environmental responsiveness with the privacy of family life, maintaining a connection to nature and the neighborhood while accommodating the demands of an urban residential setting.