The Cuckoo House is a house for 4 people (parents and 2 kids) combined with a coffee shop located in Da Nang, Vietnam and designed by Tropical Space in 2018. The project is built by the local clay brick which brings a familiar feeling to the user and has the architectural shape reminding about the Cuckoo Clock
Project Name: Cuckoo Coffee House
Studio Name: Tropical Space
Location: Hoa Xuan, Da Nang, Vietnam
Architecture: Tropical Space Co.,Ltd
Architects: Nguyen Hai Long, Tran Thi Ngu Ngon, Nguyen Anh Duc, Teresa Tran
Website: http://khonggiannhietdoi.com
Year: 2019
Site area: 297.3 m.sq
Building area: 274 m.sq
Level: 1 ground floor, 1 floor, attic
The Cuckoo house includes three blocks which are connected by the buffer layers. These blocks are placed on another rectangular block which functions as a base. This base block is the coffee shop with the garden as outdoor area and the indoor space.
Three blocks above are separated functional spaces of the house and linked by the buffer layers which are un-fully covered.
Block A is the master bedroom including two floors. The upper floor is the bedroom and the other one is bathroom and walk-in closet Block B also has two floors. The upper floor is the kids’ bedroom and the bellow is the living room Block C accommodates the kitchen and dining table.
Like a habit, most of people’ daily activities usually take place in functional spaces, Tropical Space detaches walls which are used to define the place and offer the buffer space to urge people to leave their rooms and join together. These buffer layers can be used flexibly, connecting the indoor and the outdoor of the house which could make the family activities could be both private and open. Meanwhile, it allows the breeze to go through all corners of the house and make it chill in the tropical summer.
Tropical Space
Tropical space was founded in 2011 by two architects – Nguyen Hai Long and Tran Thi Ngu Ngon Nguyen Hai Long graduated in 2001 with bachelor degree of architecture at University of Architecture Ho Chi Minh City and completed his master degree in 2008 at the same school.
Tran Thi Ngu Ngon also obtained her bachelor degree at University of Architecture Ho Chi Minh City in 2003 Living in the tropical environment, realizing the architecture could influence on how people live in harmony with their surroundings, the architects want to encourage and inspire that idea through their works.
There are two main design influences in every Tropical Space project which are sculpture and climate. Everything starts with a response to the local climate and mitigating the effects of climate change. Initially, these are practical design choices, however Tropical Space’s architecture style is inspired by sculptural forms and simple shapes.
