Jalousie House - the louver that pull nature into the house

Jalousie house was built on a 7m (west-facing) x 14m (south-facing), in Hue city. In urban areas of Vietnam, the same narrow-shaped houses stood side by side. This type of house faced the risk of lack of air and light because the sides are adjacent to others. Beside that, Hue is one of the places with the largest rainfall in Vietnam. Located in this climate, we create a way of "layering" on top of each other, creating a gap of ventilation and watertight like the way the carpenter makes louver doors. Based on that idea, here, we use two layering schemes, one is the glass shutters with the folding pattern wall in the facade and the other is the breeze blocks system in the backside.

The folding pattern wall in the façade blocks sunlight and helps the house to cope with the rainy in winter but still lets the air in and out smoothly. Not only that, these folds contribute to the shape of the building, making it special, prominent but still plain.

The breeze blocks wall in the backside brings air and light to the house, but also prevents effect of heat in summer and freezing rain in winter. This system combines with the sky light and glass door in façade ensures that the distribution of sunlight is enough during daytime. This breeze blocks wall forms ventilation and air convection for the house.

By taking advantage of the skylight and ventilation system at back side, we plant the in-house garden right after the breeze blocks wall to create green layer for the house. This garden acts as a natural air conditioning, making the air cooler and cleaner before going inside the house as well as reducing the heat caused by solar radiation. This garden also provides open green view from bedrooms and bathrooms, gives the homeowners a relaxing, feeling immersed in nature. Besides, a green carpet grass is planted on 2nd floor balcony. This is where young parent, the homeowners can spend quality time with their little child.